Personal recollections, 1813-1893 : with sketches of his wife and children

Columbia ollniticm'tp

THE LIBRARIES

Bequest of

Frederic Bancroft

1860-1945

fuejii -Z, /'?o S'.

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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
I 8 I 3—1 89 3

OF

REV. CHARLES E. BROWN

WITH SKETCHES OF HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN
AND

EXTRACTS FROM AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF

^

REV. PHILLIP

PERRY

BROWN

1790

— 1862

WITH

SKETCHES

OF HIS CHILDREN

AND

THE

FAMILY RECO RD

17 67-

— 1907

¥.

r'

^'

/

IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF MY WIFE

FRANCES LYON BROWN

VMHO for nearly fifty years shared with me
the labor, trials and privations of pioneer
missionary life; whose cheery presence made
the humble log cabin on the western frontier
the happiest of homes, and whose sunny, hope-
ful disposition found for every cloud a silver
lining-, these recollections are affectionately in-
scribed.

(9G)

CONTENTS.

Chapter I.
Birth. Earl3' Life. Education. Ordination to the Min-
istry, and marriage.

Chaiter II.
Appointment as a Missionarj', and the journey, New
York to Iowa, in 1842.

Chapter III.
Pioneer life on the Western Frontier. The log- cabin
home near Maquoketa. Rafting on the Maquoketa river,
and a cross country trip to Iowa City.

Chapter IV.
Frontier meeting places. A primitive journey to Dav-
enport in a road cart. The Davenport Association and the
Churches composing it.

Chapter V.
Removal to Davenport in fall of 1842. Revival meetings
at Rock Island. Sketch of Judge John F. Dillon.

Chapter VI.
Location at LeClaire. An eventful trip to Mt. Pleasant.
Indians and prairie fires. Buffalo Bill. The brick house
on the prairie of Scott county.

Chapter VII.
Relocation at Maquoketa in fall of 1847. The home there
and the Maquoketa Academy. Failing health.

Chapter VIII,
Death by drowning of oldest son, and of Nelson Walker,
a nephew. The return to New York in May, 1851. Hol-
land Patent, Russia, Norwa}'.

Chapter IX.
Fenner, Madison county. Gaines and Murray, Orleans

count}', and the return to Iowa in July, 1857. Looking up
a location in northern Iowa, and settling- at Vernon
Springs in September.

Chapter X.

Early life at Vernon. Organization of the Church and
sketches of neighbors.

Chapter XI.

The war of the Rebellion. Raid of Sioux Indians in fall
of 1862. McGregor Western Railway. Removal to
Thompson, Carroll county, Illinois. Appointment and
service as Chaplain in the army.

Chapter XII.

Location at Lime Springs, Howard county, in 1870.
Death by accident of son George L. Brown, September 1,
1871. Elected to State Legislature. An argument for
reform of jury system.

Chapter XIII.

Death of Mrs. Brown at Lime Springs, June 12, 1887.
Breaking up of the home and life with sons. Death at
Ottumwa, July 23, 1901. Sketches of wife and children.

Chapter XIV.
Address at LeClaire, July 4, 1845.

Chapter XV.
Temperance address at Cresco, January 3, 1875.

Chapter XVI.
Historical address at Clinton, Iowa, September 22, 1892.

Chapter XVII.

Extract from Autobiography of Rev. Phillip Perry
Brown, with sketches of his children.

Chapter XVIII.
Family records.

LIST OF ILIA'S TR A TIONS,

Rev. atid Mrs. Charles E. Brown Frontispiece

Baptist Parsonafjfo, Norway, Herkimer \

County, New York ' '. Following

I Page 10

Baptist Church, Norway I

Baptist Church, Russia, New York 54

Rev. and Mrs. Charles E. Brown and

children, George and Will, July, 1857 60

Iowa River at L<ime Springs, Iowa 1

Iowa River on C. C. Hewitt's farm near \

lyime Springs J

Pasture on farm pre-empted by C. C. 1

Hewitt in 1S55 "' "2

Scene on C. C. Hewitt farm j

FIVE GENERATIONS

Esq. M M. Marsh )

Mrs. C. C. Hewitt. Mrs. W. C. Brown. . . ! 74

Mrs. Frank E. Pierce ]

Master William Brown Pierce J

The old Home; Stone house built at Ver- 1

non Springs in 1858 )-

School House and old Home, Vernon j

80

School house at Vernon Springs 86

I

Home of Father Brown in Ottumwa, 1 Following-

Iowa, where he died

I^ast home in Lime Springs, of Father j

and Mother Brown

Home of C. C. Hewitt, in Lime Springs, !'

where W. C. Brown and Ella Hewitt I

were married in June, 1874 '

Remodeled Home in Lime Springs, of

Father and Mother Brown 1

Page

88

Hill's Mill on Iowa River near Lime
Springs

Monument on Family lot in Cemetery at
Lime Springs, Iowa

Family burial lot of Stephen W. Brown
at Little Falls, Herkimer County, New
York

96

102

104

FAMILY PORTRAITS

Rev. George W. Fall

Miss Adeline P. Fall, August, 1866

Mrs. Charles P. Brown, 1871

Charles P. Brown, 1863

Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Brown, 1892....

and Edith, 1885

Louise, Frances, Edith and Ben, children

of Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Brown

Mr. and Mrs. Lester M. Linton

106

James D. Brown

Mrs. James D. Brown

George E Brown and wife..
Miss Vinnie France* Brown
Frank Logan Brown

110

William C. Brown

Mrs. William C. Brown

Miss Marg-aret Heddeiis Brown.

Margaret

Margaret and Bertha

Dr. Frank E. Pierce

Mrs. Frank EJ. Pierce

William Brown Pierce

Bertha

Dr. Kellogg Speed

Mrs. Kellogg Speed

Following
Page

120

Rev. Phillip Perry Brown

Betsy Dickey, Mrs. Phillip Perry Brown

Rev. William Brown

Phillip Perry Brown, Jr

A. J. Brown

Wilbur M . Brown

178

REV. AND MRS. CHAS. E. BROWN

Sa in t Jos eph , Mis s o it ri,
February 2p'd, iSgj,

At the request of my children, I zindertake
a7i Aiitobiog-raphy, and commence it on this,
my eig^htieth birthday.

Imperfectly kept diaries will furnish sojne
data, but recollections must coyne principally
from memory^ s store.

- Chapter I.

I was born in Augusta, Oneida County,
New York, February 23, 1813. My father,
Phillip Perry Brown, was born m Bennington,
Vermont, September 17, 1790, and died in
Madison, Madison County, New York, Sep-
tember 23, 1876.

He was a Baptist minister and was for
more than fifty years a zealous, faithful and
successful worker in his calling — as pastor of
Baptist Churches in central New York.

His mother, Anna Perry Brown, was of
the family of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry,
of Revolutionary fame; though not closely re-
lated.

My mother, Betsy Dickey, was born in
Wethersfield, Vermont, October 23, 1788, and
died in Hamilton, New York, April 2nd, 1862.

Her father was a Scotch Irishman, who
came from Londonderry, North Ireland to
Londonderry, New Hampshire, before the
revolutionary war. She was an exemplary
Christian woman and a devoted, loving wife
and mother. •

I was the second of a family of nine chil-
dren, six sons and three daughters, of whom

4

only three are now living*, myself, a brother
and sister.

Before my recollection my parents moved
from Aug-usta to Smithiield, in Madison
County.

This was a new and heavily timbered coun-
try, and here, amid the privations and hard-
ships of pioneer life with limited means, we
lived until my eig-hteenth year.

The maple forest furnished us with suo-ar
and syrup. Wheat flour was something of a
luxury. Wild game from the timber and trout
from the streams supplied meat for the table.

Spelling- schools, apple paring's, coasting,
and the usual g-ames of a pioneer farming- com-
munity were our youthful sports.

The family was healthy and the services
of the neighborhood doctor were very seldom
needed.

In the fall of 1829, my father became pastor
of the Baptist Church at Augusta.

During the summer and fall of 1831 I worked
for Danforth Armour on his farm, at the sum-
mit of what was known as the "Mile Hill" —
the grade beginning at Leland's Tavern, the
five chimney house. The Lelands' became in
time wealthy and well known keepers of
famous hotels. Near the top of the Mile Hill
the road forked, the main road running- south-
west and the other due west.

The Armour farm la}^ along- the south side
of the west road, west of the Peterboro turn-
pike. The house, one and a half-story frame,
unpainted, contained three small rooms below
and a bed room and store room above.

The larg-e, old-fashioned chimney and fire
place was in one end with a ladder alongside
leading- to the room above.

The family consisted of the parents, two
little boys, Simeon and Watson in dresses,
and a little girl baby in the mother's arms.
The following- year a third boy was born,
who was named Phillip.

The home, though humble, was a very happy
one.

Danforth Armour's parents came from
New England to New York at an early day.
New York at that time was "out west." Many
years later Danforth returned to Connecticut
to find a helpmate — Miss Julia A. Brooks,
daughter of a well to do Yankee farmer.

I feel that the incidents above related are
worthy of special notice when I realize the
good influence exerted in the west by the
three sons of Danforth Armour during the
past twenty-five years.

Phillip D. Armour, Simeon B. Armour and
Allison W. Armour have honored the name
they bear, the place that gave them birth.

6

and the sturdy New En<»-land stock from which
they spruno*.

I was paid thirty-two dollars in cash for my
four months* woriv on the Armour farm.
Within a week from the time I o;ot the money,
I met an acquaintance who knew of its receipt
and wanted to borrow just that amount. He
plead so earnestly and made such fair promises
to repay soon that I let him have it, and at
this time the amount is still due and unpaid,
principal and interest.

Late in the fall of 1831 I w^ent to Augfusta
to learn the tanning-, currN^ng- and shoemaking-
business with Hazard Wilbur, a deacon of my
father's church.

At a revival meeting* in September 1832, I
with many others, became a Christian, and
was baptized by my father. Soon after I
became impressed with the conviction that it
was my duty to preach the gospel, and a few
weeks later I began at the Hamilton Literary
and Theological Seminary a course of study
to prepare for the ministry.

In the spring- of 1833, Professor Daniel
Hascall opened at Florence, Oneida County, a
manual labor school, which I entered. During-
school term — out of school hours, my room
mate joined me in cutting down trees and
chopping- them into logs, which during- vaca-
tion w^e hauled with a yoke of cattle, hired for

7

the purpose, and the land cleared in this way,
helped to defray part of the cost of our educa-
tion.

I tauo-ht school two winters, tliat of 1834-5,
at Pittston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania,
at the head of the Wyoming- Valley.

Across the Susquehanna River in sig^ht of
Pittston, occurred the Wyoming- massacre of
the settlers by British Tories and Indians in
July 1778. One of the little g'irl captives
carried away by the Indians was Francis
Slocum, and among my pupils was a young
lady who was her niece. Pifty-seven years
passed and no intelligence had ever been re-
ceived of the captives. Some years after this
she was found in Indiana with the remnant of
a tribe, the wife of an Indian, and mother of
g-rown children. A brother and sister from
Pennsylvania visited the tribe and endeavored
to induce her to return and spend the remain-
der of her life with them; but she refused,
prefering to stay with her children.

In March 1838, I held a revival meeting- in
Deacon Holdrege's school house in the town
of Frankfort, Herkimer County, a few miles
west of Frankfort village. Father Harvey, a
licensed preacher 104 years old, was a good
helper at these meetings. His wife by sec-
ond marriage, was so much younger than him-
self, her family opposed the marriage for the

8

reason that she would soon have a helpless old
man to care for. But she became old and
feeble, and Father Harvey, much smarter and
more active, had her to care for, which he did
with the utmost love and tenderness.

As in his young-er days, the first thing- on
rising- in the pulpit was to take off his coat. I
love to recall those school house revivals with
Father Harvey in his chair in front of the
desk and his tender heart-moving" voice in
prayer and exhortation.

During- April and May 1838, in the absence
of Elder Thomas Houston, the pastor, I
preached m the Baptist Church at Frankfort.
At this time my father, then pastor of the
Litchfield Church, was engag-ed in a revival at
Little Falls. The meeting-s were interesting
and powerful, and I went down to witness the
display of God's saving* mercy and help in the
g-ood work.

From Frankfort to Little Falls, twelve
miles, w^as my first ride on a railroad. The
rails were of wood, with strap iron about the
width and thickness of a wag-on tire spiked
on. The coaches contained two compartments
with cross seats, passengers on one seat
riding backwards. The conductor while col-
lecting tickets, walked on a plank outside
holding onto a hand rail under the eaves of the
coaches.

Arriving- at Little Falls I went directly to
the church where services were beingf held.
After church I was invited to the home of
Stephen W. Brown, then Sheriff of Herkimer
County, a leading- merchant and business
man, with the understanding- that I would be
entertained there during my stay. Meeting-
with a very cordial reception, I soon felt at
home with Mr. Brown's family, which con-
sisted of himself and wife, and Georg-e D.
and Frances Lyon, brother and sister of Mrs.
Brown. Thoug-h of the same name, we were
not related, and this was my first visit to
Little Falls.

Mr. George Lyon had for some time been a
member of the Baptist Church, and his sister
Frances, whom I met there for the first time,
and who became in the fall following- my loved
and honored companion in the journey of life;
was a very bright and interesting- convert of
the revival then in prog-ress. I have always
felt that this meeting- and its results was
kindly directed by an over-ruling- and all-wise
providence.

Rev. J. W. Olmsted, long- the able and influ-
ential editor of the Watchman of Boston,
was the beloved pastor of the Little Falls
Baptist Church at this time.

With a class of about twenty-five, I finished
the course at Hamilton, July 15th, 1838 and

10

on the 20th of September at Litchfield where
my father was pastor, I was re^rularly or-
dained to the work of preaching- the gfospel.

On September 26th in the Baptist Church
at Little Falls, Rev. Augustus Beach officia-
tinof, I was married to Prances Lyon.

Throug-h the influence of my brother Will-
iam, then pastor of the Baptist Church at
Newport, I had been invited to visit the
church at Norway, Herkimer County, which
resulted in a call to the pastorate.

Earh^ in November w^e began housekeeping-
in the Norway parsonage, with the untried re-
sponsibility of pastoral work on a salary of
$275.00 a year and the use of the parsonage.

Through the very kind and generous assist-
ance of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen W. Brown we
had a plain but sufficient outfit for house-
keeping.

Chapter II.

For reasons that at the time seemed suf-
ficient, we remained but eig-hteen months in
Norway.

Two of the deacons objected to the pastor
using- the same text for morning* and after-
noon services presenting- different branches
of the subject, the object being- to avoid long-
sermons.

Not knowing- what the outcome of their
opposition mig-ht be, I quietly resig-ned, leav-
ing- the church in peace and harmony.

Precious revival influences were enjoyed
during- our stay, twenty-nine being- baptized,
but not all into the Norway church.

On July 30, 1839, at the Norway parsonag-e,
our first child was born, a little boy, who
was named Benjamin Perry.

Early in March 1839, I went by appoint-
ment to visit the church in Morehouseville,
Hamilton County, twenty miles north of Nor-
way, in the primeval forest then known as the
Great North Woods, now the Adirondack
reg-ion.

I found there a few worthy members and

111]

12

at once l)e<^an revival meetinj^s in the school
house.

Oh, the precious seasons there enjoyed.
''How sweet their memory still."

On March 24th, a beautiful bricrht sunny
dav, the snow still deep in the wilderness —
the ice bein^ cut away in the west Canada
creek — I baptized nine in its clear waters.
In May followincr I visited the place a<ifain and
baptized two more.

I always enjoyed missionary work in school
houses and distant neig-hborhoods of my pas-
toral fields.

During- the first pastorate at Norway, I
visited a new settlement at the head of Pizeco
Lake, about twenty miles beyond Morehouse-
ville, in the almost pathless wilderness.

Leaving" Norway, our next field of labor
beginning- in April 1840, w^as in the town of
Warren, in the southern part of Herkimer
County. Little could be accomplished in re-
lig-ious work the first year owing- to the excit-
ing- and all-absorbing- ''Log- Cabin, Hard
Cider, Tippecayioe and Tyler too'' Presiden-
tial campaign, resulting- in the election of
Harrison and Tyler. But the following- year
a g-ood deg-ree of interest was manifested and
baptism and additions to the church member-
ship occurred frequently.

A gfrownng- interest in and love for pioneer

13

missionary work directed our thoug-hts to
some new field of labor in the distant West.

At Warren October 30th, 1840, our second
child was born, a son, who was named Charles
Perry.

During- this month our wish for missionary
work in the West was laid before the New
York State Missionary Convention at its
annual meeting- then in session at Whitesboro.

The application said nothing about salary .
or any special location, excepting- a prefer-
ence expressed for lotva. The request was
favorably endorsed by the convention and an
appointment by the American Baptist Home
Missionary Society recommended.

This appointment came in due time, desig-
nating the forks of the Maquoketa river in
Jackson County, Iowa, as the field of labor,
with an allowance of one hundred dollars a
year from the board and seventy-five dollars
for traveling expenses to the field.

Our family then consisted of myself, wife
and the two little boys, Benjaminand Charles.
As household goods could not be economically
shipped so far we sold everything- except
clothing-, bedding, a common table and stand
which could be conveniently packed, and a
rocking chair, taken for the comfort and con-
venience of the mother in caring for the little
ones on the journey.

14

We boug-ht a small cook stove, which was
taken down, packed in straw and boxed for
shipment. All told our household effects
weighed about 1600 pounds.

On Monday May 2nd, 1842, we left Utica on
a passeng-er packet known as a Line boat on
the Erie canal, bound for Buffalo en route to
Iowa territory.

These boats w^ere provided with a comfort-
able cabin w^th berths for passen^rers in the
bow, kitchen and dining- cabin at the stern
and space amidships for freig^ht and bag-gag-e.
With g-ood company, clean wholesome food, a
sober and accommodating- master and crew,
the two hundred mile trip from Utica to Buf-
falo was comfortable and pleasant. The fare,
two cents per mile, which included berth and
board with no charg-e for young- children, was
very reasonable.

Arriving- at Tonawanda, twelve miles from
Buffalo, at midnig-ht Saturday, we lay by
until the next midnig-ht, as the boat did not
run on the Sabbath. We reached Buffalo at
daylig-ht Monday May 9th, and the family
and g-oods were transferred to the Lake
•steamer, "Great Western," Captain Walker
commanding-, which was due to leave that
evening- for Chicag-o.

The shades of nig-ht were falling- when the
great steamer with nearly four hundred pas-

15

seng-ers bound mostly for Illinois, Iowa and
Wisconsin, put out into the lake for Chicago.
Very few had ever been on the water, and
ominous clouds were looming- up in the west.

The cabin passeng-ers g-athered on the prom-
enade deck, some looking- back on the lig-hts
of the city toward the homes and loved ones
they were leaving-; some at the dark waters of
the lake, and some anxiously at the threaten-
ing- clouds, many with tearful eyes.

It was one of the most solemn and intensely
interesting- scenes we ever witnessed and one
we will never forg-et.

We retired to our state room but could not
sleep The storm broke upon us with g-reat
fury in the nig-ht, but our noble steamer met
and faced it bravely, and broug-ht us safely
into the harbor at Cleveland, which was the
first landing- place.

The effect of the nig-ht's storm on the
stomachs of the passeng-ers was manifest at
breakfast, many being- absent from the table.

We lay at Cleveland a few hours waiting- for
the storm to pass.

Excepting- a similar experience on Lake
Huron, compelling- us to lay by for four hours
at Presque Isle, we had pleasant sailing- to
Chicag-o, where we arrived Saturday after-
noon and put up at a small two-story hotel
called the New York House.

16

In the eveninj^- we attended meeting in the
Baptist Church, located on the lot where the
Chamber of Commerce now stands, and heard
a sermon bv Rev. Thomas Powell. The
church was a frame building- boarded "up and
down" and battened, w^ithout ceilin<^, exposing-
collar beams, rafters and roof boards.

The Court House w^as near by on a five acre
lot enclosed with a common fence. It was a
small brick building, located at the north side
of the lot.

The following- letter to a sister in New York
State, written by Mrs. Brown en route, May
12th-16th, 1842, is interesting-:

Thqrsday, Lake St. Clair,
May 12th, 1842.

Dear Sister and Brother —

In accordance with your request, I improve
the first convenient season for writing- you
some of the incidents of our journey thus far.
We are on board the Great Western, the
most splendid vessel on the lakes. It is a
lovely morning, the lake is still and we are
sailing at the rate of twelve miles an hour.
We are furnished with every comfort and
convenience that could be obtained in the best
hotel. Our journey has been pleasant, with
the exception of some little sea-sickness for

17

the first few hours on "Lake Erie. Benny and
myself have had a pretty thoroug-h emetic.
Mr. B. and Charley escaped with a little
nausea of the stomach, and no vomiting-. We
have been sailing- up the Detroit river this
morning with Victoria's dominions on our
right hand, and borders of Michigan on the
left; passed a British military station; saw a
number of her Majesty's red-coated gentry.
Our steamer stopped some time at Detroit.
We went on shore. I priced articles in a
number of dry goods establishments, found a
handsome assortment, and as low as can be
purchased in New York. We find the tide of
emigration to the far west has by no means
subsided. There are between three and four
hundred passengers on board, and quite a
large proportion go round to Chicago. The
children have been less trouble than I antici-
pated. We left Utica Monday morning in the
Little Western; Captain Newcomb, a pleas-
ant man and fine crew; heard no profane
language; had a good cook and good fare,
and with the exception of speed found our-
selves comfortable.

Called on Mrs. Dr. Grey, found her well.
Saw Elon Carpenter and his wife, and Mrs.
Carpenter, Mrs. Grey's mother, likewise her
sister, Mrs. Beach and two daug-hters. Called
on Mrs. Lyman, saw her and her boy. Mr.

18

Lvnian was not in. Slic li\cs (lirc*ctl\' ()])p()-
site Dr. Grey in Jordan, (juite a pretlv villa<^e
on the canal. Had the f^j-ood fortune to find
Cousin Francis in All)ion, thouLfh we had but
a short time to visit with him. He was well,
in o-ood spirits; says he is doino- well, and
desio-ns visitin<r Little Palls in July (tell
friend C. we shall want a ofood hatter in our
cit3\ and I think thev had better come on).
Cousin Francis seemed very glad to see us,
and said he would have g-one on with us to
Buffalo had he not been in the dye kettle.

We were detained by a break in the canal
below Rochester, in consequence of w^hich we
did not reach Buffalo as soon as we expected.
The boat belonged to the six-day line, and lay
up at Tonawanda, a villag-e twelve miles be-
low^ Buffalo, and spent the Sabbath. A Meth-
odist minister preached in the morning-, and
Mr B. in the afternoon. We were invited to
tea at the public house kept by a Mr. Brig-gs,
w^hose wife is a Baptist On the whole, spent
the day quite pleasantly. We were detained
in Buffalo until Tuesday, seven in the evening-
waiting- for the sailing of the vessel.

Monday Morning, Chicag-o,
May 16th, 1842-

We arrived in this city yesterday afternoon
safe and sound. Our passage from Buffalo,

19

tog-ether with freig-ht, cost us forty-eig-ht dol-
lars; from Little Falls to Buffalo twenty-
three.

We had one day of roug-h weather on Lake
Huron but none of us were sea sick. I think
had not my stomach been foul I should have
escaped altog-ether. On the w^hole w^e have
had a pleasant journey; are much pleased with
the appearance of the western country so far.
Milwaukee, Racine and Southport on the Wis-
consin shore are pleasant villag-es. We passed
Mackinaw in the nig-ht, reg'retted it very
much, as it is said to be a very interesting
spot.

We are at the New York House in Chicag-o.
There were eig-hty people at breakfast; very
g-ood accommodations; have plenty of radishes,
onions, lettuce, etc,

Mr. B is making- arrang-ements for prose-
cuting- our journey to Iowa. The weather is
fine and the roads g-ood, and we hope to g-et
along- without any difficulty.

Benny talks about Aunt Brown and baby
Georg-e, Pred, Aunt Mary and all the friends
he has left behind. I cannot realize the dis-
tance that separates us. It seems to be anni-
hilated by the facilities for overcoming- it. I
think to come by railroad from Little Falls to
Buffalo, and then by the lakes to Chicag-o,
would make a delig-htful jaunt. Take an
emetic before you leave.

20

We shall hope to see you next season, I
think the first of June or last of May would be
about the rij^ht time to leave.

A very g-enteel family from the city of Phil-
adelphia are just leaving for the country.

We shall soon be on the load teamino- oif.
Remember us affectionately to all friends —
Chloe, Mrs. Green, the doctor. Dr. Brown, all
the irood brothers and sisters in the church.

I just sent to the office hopino- for a letter
or papers from home, found none. Let us
hear from you at our home, Nelson has the
direction.

Love agfain to all.

Yours in haste,

Frances.

Mrs. S. W. Brown, Little Falls, )
Herkimer County, N. Y. f

On Monday we found a man from Rockford,
Illinois, who came in with a lumber wa^^on
and a load of produce and eno-ag-ed him to take
us to Savanna, on the Mississippi river. After
loading- our thino-s, the rocking- chair brougfht
from New York was fastened on top of one of
the boxes with a small chair secured along--
side.

Seated in the rocker with the young-est
child in her lap, and the other in the little
chair by her side Mrs. Brown cheerily said,

21

"Now, this is fine," and there was sunshine
on the load all the way throug-h.

I took a seat on the box beside the driver
with our feet on the whiffle-trees, and we
started on our two hundred mile drive to
our future home in the territory of Iowa.

A dry spring- fortunately saved us the
trouble of pryino- our wag-on out of the mud in
the streets of Chicag-o.

We stopped for the first nig-ht about twelve
miles out on the Elg-in road, and the second at
a small log* cabin at Pig-eon Woods, sixteen
miles west of Elg-in, where a hearty appetite
for supper was demoralized by badly tainted
ham; and the presence of two loads of stag-e
coach passeng-ers to be cared for oblig-ed us
to sleep on the floor. But these incidents
were minor matters in a journey like this.

Early next morning-, proceeding- on our way
we found a satisfactory breakfast at a small
cabin located where the town of Mareng-o now
stands. At noon we reached Belvidere, where
we enjo3'ed a visit with Prof. P. S. Whitman
who was one of my teachers at Hamilton.
Here on the public square we saw the stakes
used to support a rude platform which had
been the resting- place of the body of an
Indian chief. The body was g-one but the
poles and some frag-ments of hisburial dress

22

were there, a dismal and orewsome reminder
of the past.

That evening- we arrived at the west side
tavern at Rockford where, to our great disap-
pointment, our teamster was summoned as a
witness in a case on trial, delaying- us until
the following- Monday. But while tarrying*
we found a g-ood home and pleasant friends in
the family of the Rev. Solomon Knapp, pastor
of the Baptist Church at Rockford, for whom
I preached on Sunday; my first sermon in the
west.

Monday morning", in g-ood health and spirits,
with fine weather and roads we continued our
journey, taking- the Galena stag-e road to
Twelve Mile Grove, thence turning* directly
west for the Mississippi.

About sun down w^e reached Crane's g-rove,
and as the next stopping- place was eig-hteen
miles west, here we must put up for the
nig-ht. Mrs. Crane from Kentucky, middle
ag-ed and stout, was just coming- from the
cow yard with a pail of milk. To our inquiry
if we could stop for the nig'ht she replied,
"Oh, I reckon, thoug-h I am mig-hty tired.
The old cow g-ives a rig-ht smart of milk, well
on to half a bushel."

That night our teamster overfed his horses
with gfrain and next morning- found one of
them dead. We arrang-ed with Mr. Crane to

23

take us eig-hteen miles to Cherry grove, where
we stopped with a Mr. Gardner, Mr. Crane's
brother-in-law, who next day took us to Savan-
na on the Mississippi. We here had our first
view of the mighty river, its volume then being-
much greater than in later years. That even-
ing we were ferried across to Charleston, now
Sabula, and put up for the night at the town
tavern. In the morning- eng-ag-ed a man and
team to take us the remaining twenty-five to
thirty miles to the end of our long journey.

Owing to rain we were late in starting.
About noon stopped for dinner at a cabin on
the west bank of Deep Creek, where we found
nothing to eat but eggs. Of these they had
eleven, which were boiled for us.

The children would not eat them. We did
not see any other human habitation until night
had fallen, when the little ones, tired and
hungry, had long- since cried themselves to
sleep.

In the darkness of midnight we reached a
cabin occupied by Mr. C. W. Doolittle, when
at that spectral hour, in silence and solitude
that could be felt, we were at the end of our
long journey, nearly a thousand miles from
home and friends in the distant east. The
Indian had recently left, and his pale faced
successors were few and far between.

We had been twenty-four days on the road

24

and had lost but little time, havin<»- diligently
pursued our way from the start. It is one of
the wonders of a marvelous a^e to realize that
the distance can now be made in less than
twentv-foiir hours in luxurious ease and com-
fort and that this is actually done every day.
With cordial frontier hospitality which we
g-ratefully appreciated, Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle
turned out and welcomed us, prepared supper
and then g-ave us their bed, while they found
lodg-ing- for themselves and family in the cabin
loft. Tired and worn by the long- and tedious
last day's drive we slept sweetly and soundly,
four in the bed, myself, wife and two children.

Chapter III.

Arriving- in the nig-ht we could see nothing-
of the near by country, and owing- to a dense
fog- nothing- was visible next morning-.

After breakfast, accompanied by Brother
Doolittle, I called on some neig-hboring fami-
lies two miles to the southwest.

Upon inquiry I found to my surprise that
there was no church or organized Baptist
society. The settlement was very new, with
a few Baptist families widely scattered. This
and the fog-, and the fact that aside from the
$100 per year from the home missionary board,
our living- was to come from our field of labor
was rather discouraging- and made me feel a
little blue.

But during our walk a breeze came up and
carried away the fog. The clouds lifted and
the sun came out, revealing a most beautiful
prairie country to the south, with a grand body
of Moquaketa timber to the north for a back-
ground. My blues went with the fog; hope,
couragfe and cheer came with the sunshine and
clear sky. But how would my dear wife feel,
for I knew, and she knew, that the privation

L25]

26

and hardship of a new country would fall most
heavily on the wife and mother in the little log*
cabin home.

Doubt was soon removed, for on my return
she met me near the house with a bright and
cheerful face saying-, "Charles, we came to
Iowa to do good and we will stay and trust in
the Lord."

Oh, how welcome was that g-reeting. We
had faith in God's promise: "Trust in the
Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the
land, and verily thou shalt be fed."

We arrived at the cabin of Brother Doolittle
at midnight on Thursday, May 26, 1842. The
Baptist families and settlers g-enerally g-aveus
a very cordial welcome.

A meeting- was to be held at Iowa City June
3rd to org-anize a Territorial Missionary Con-
vention, and I desired to attend. Iowa City
was about a hundred miles to the southw^est
and there w^as no roads to mention and very
few settlers on the route.

Bro. Doolittle's family was larg-e and we
found a temporary home with Bro. Levi
Decker. Sister Decker very kindly proposed
•to care for our little ones and allow Mrs.
Brown to g-o with me to Iowa City, an arrang-e-
ment we were g-lad to make. Procuring a
horse and lig-ht wagon of Brother Doolittle,
we set out on the morning- of June 1st, taking-

27

a trail that led to what was known as Ber-
g-oon's ford across the Wasepinecon river
some twenty-five miles away. We soon lost
the dim uncertain trail, but having- a good
general idea of the direction did not miss our
way. The weather was fine, the prairies car-
peted with wild flowers, and the trip novel
and wonderfully interesting-. The broad ex-
panse of rolling prairies extending- in every
direction as far as the eye could reach, with
now and then a beautiful grove to relieve the
monotony, was a g-reat change from the hills,
valleys and heavy timber of our central New
York home.

Nearing the Wapsy settlement we came
onto a prairie creek, narrow and deep with
abrupt banks. How to cross was a prob-
lem. But we were nearly twenty miles on
our road and would not turn back. Helping
Mrs. Brown across with our bag-g-ag-e I started
far enough away from the creek to g-et the
horse on a smart trot, and as he came to the
bank gave him a sharp blow with the whip at
the same time jumping- out. Over he went,
scattering- thing's, but nothing- was broken or
damaged. We stopped for dinner at the little
cabin of a settler not far beyond the creek.
An early start and the long- June day's drive
broug-ht us to Tipton, the county seat of
Cedar Countv, for the night. We found there

28

a log" cabin hotel and a loo- court house. Leav-
ino- appointments for preachin<^- at Tipton and
the Wapsy crossino- settlement on our return
trip, and o-etting- an early start and niai<in«-a
long- drive, we reached Iowa City on the even-
ing of the second day.

At this time there were no railroads west
of the State of New York. The western
boundary of lands to which the Indian title
had been extinguished by treaty and purchase
and which were open to settlement, was only
eighteen miles from Iowa City. The counties
bordering on this west line were Van Buren,
Jefferson, Washington, Johnson, Linn, Buch-
anan, Fayette and Clayton.

It was ofood to meet the brethren and sis-
ters from different and distant parts of the
territory. Business was soon and easily at-
tended to, and the last three days were occu-
pied with preaching and devotional services.
Returning we filled the Tipton appointment
Monday, and at the Wapsy settlement the next
day, arriving home that night.

Our next important temporal affair was to
select a location and build a log house. Tim-
ber being plenty and saw mills scarce, houses
were generally of logs.

Becoming acquainted with the people at
Wright's Corners, two and one-half miles
south of the present site of Maquoketa, we

29

decided to locate there. Our neig-hbors were,
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Wrig-ht, Alfred Wrig-ht,
Levi Decker, John Rig-g-s, David Bentley and
others, and better people we need not ask for.
They very g-enerously turned out with teams
and axes and cut and hauled log's from a g^rove
a few miles west for a cabin 12 x 18 feet.
The log's were hewn on two sides, and in a
fortnig-ht the body of the house was up. Some
sawed lumber was necessary, and Mr. John
Rig-g-s joining- me, we went to a saw mill at
Canton, eig-hteen miles above, on the Maquo-
keta river. Going- on foot to Canton we
boug-ht the lumber, made a raft of it and
started down the river throug-h a dense wilder-
ness.

The undergrowth was thick in the heavy
timber, with but few clearing's, the river low,
and snag-s and sand bars g-ave us much trouble
making- our prog-ress slow. At sundown of
the first day we came to the hut of an old
hermit named Lodg-e. The next clearing- and
cabin were miles below\ We were hung-ry
and wet. It was unseasonably cold, and nig-ht
with Eg-yptian darkness was coming- on in
that narrow stream, w^ith its heavy timber
and underg-rowth. But Lodg-e's cabin was a
wretched place, shared by a chicken pen and
afforded no accommodation. There was noth-
ing- to do but g-o on and that we did.

30

It soon became so dark we could not
see each other on the raft and nothino- of the
river or our vveiy, but by ^ood fortune, snagfs,
sand bars and the rixer banks were avoided.
In fact we went better in the darkness than
we had in the daylig-ht. A break in the for-
est o-iving- a g-limpse of the sky told us when
the next clearing- was reached about eleven
o'clock.

Neither habitation or lig-hts were visible,
but a hail brought a response. We found a
comfortable cabin with a cheerful and most
welcome open fire. Getting some bread and
milk for supper, the next want was a place to
sleep. There were in the small room three
beds all fully occupied. But two men in a
bed on the floor very kindly proposed to lie
cross-ways and make room for us and we
turned in, and being very tired, slept soundly.

The next day completed the river part of
our journey, and a three mile haul to the south
brought our lumber to its destination.
Wright's Corners were on the line between
Jackson and Clinton Counties, and our cabin
was about twenty rods from the line, in Clin-
ton County, on the east side of the north and
south road, with the east branch of Prairie
Creek in front on the west, the road running-
between the cabin and the creek.

With rough loose boards for floors above

31

and below we moved in, without doors or
windows, and I went forty miles to Dubuque
for some stove pipe. But settled in our own
home, thoug-h scantily furnished with table,
stand, rocking- and small chair and a few
dishes, we were contented and happy.

Our first bedstead was of hickory poles. A
few carpenters' tools fortunately broug-ht
along- provided means for making* many useful
articles of furniture out of the boxes in which
our g-oods were packed, such as a cupboard
for dishes, another for books, and a bed for
the oldest boy

Chapter IV.

With our neit^hbors we at once bej^an work
on a lo<>' school house, a few rods south of our
cabin, where without floor, doors or windows,
we opened a Sunday School. A Mr. Thomas
Plathers was made superintendent. This was
the first school house in Clinton County and
there was none in Jackson County, and it was
used by me as a meeting* house for preaching"
and other relig-ious services.

Six miles west, at the house of Brother Earl
was another place where meetings were reg^u-
larly held. There was in Brother Earl's
house no stove or fire-place. Fire for warm-
ing- and cooking- was built on the g-round in the
middle of one room. An opening- was left in
the roof to let out the smoke, but it did not
all, or always, g-o out of this opening', and my
cong-reg-ation was often in tears over the
omission.

Another appointment was at a cabin on a
ridg-e twelve miles in the timber. Here a day
or two before one of my visits the owner
killed a monster panther which was after one
of his hog-s.

[32]

33

My first sermon in Iowa was in the un-
finished log- cabin of John Shaw, where Ma-
quoketa now stands; the second at Iowa City;
the third at Tipton; the fourth at Berg-oon's
Pord on the Wapsy, and the fifth at a Metho-
dist Quarterly meeting- held in their log-
church in the timber. This church had then
no floor or window opening's, light coming- in
throug-h the open door, and the spaces in the
log- sides. Meeting's held where the villag-e of
Maquoketa now stands were in a sod-covered
log- cabin built for a blacksmith shop.

During- the first summer in Iowa, I preached
once in Rock Island, four times in Davenport,
three times in Marion, Linn County; three
times in Tipton, Cedar County; and once at
Andrew, the county seat of Jackson County.

A man named Jackson was hung- to the limb
of an oak tree near the log- court house in
Andrew that summer for the murder of a man
named Perkins. Perkins had a claim on the
Maquoketa river, and Jackson jumped it and
killed him. This claim was between Canton
and Maquoketa, and my neig-hbor Rig-g-s and
I, with our raft of lumber, went past the Per-
kins' clearing- and the scene of the murder
on our trip down the river.

The one hundred dollars a year from the
Missionary Board was the only money re-
ceived, and postage, which was twenty-five

34

cents a letter, made a heavy inroad on this
amount, and if some kind Eastern friend en-
closed a one dollar bill then the postaj^e
became fifty cents. But soon after moving"
into our home, Bloomfield postoffice was es-
tablished, w^ith our cabin for the office and
myself the postmaster; and I was allowed to
receive letters free from postag-e as one of
the emoluments of the office, a privilege thor-
oughly appreciated. How good it was to get
letters from the old home and not have to pay
out the last quarter for postage. We had one
in-coming" and one out-going mail a week, on
horse back.

On Aug-ust 31, 1842, a meeting was held at
the home of Brother Earl for the purpose of
org-anizing- a Baptist Church. An organiza-
tion was effected with the following- members:

Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Doolittle, Mr and Mrs.
Jason Pangborn, Mr. and Mrs. W. Y. Earl,
Mr. and Mrs. Levi Decker, Mr. and Mrs. Esq.
Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Brown, Mrs.
Eliza Ballard, Mrs. Mitchell.

Other Baptist People in that region were:
Mr. and Mrs. Ebenezer Wilcox, on Bear
Creek; Mr. Woodsworth, twelve miles in the
timber; Mrs, Jno. Wilcox, at South Grove;
Mrs. David Bently, at Wright's Corners; Mr.
and Mrs. Clark, three miles northeast, and
Mrs. Palmer at Andrew.

35

Bro. Jason Pang-born and family came from
Northeastern New York. Sister Pang-born
was a devoted Christian, educated and re-
fined. Like most of the early settlers, their
means were very limited. Before leaving
their eastern home she became blind. When
we called on them they were living- in a
small log- cabin at the northeast corner of the
quarter section on which the Midland North-
western Railway station is located, at Maquo-
keta.

In that little cabin with scarcely anything-
contributing- to comfort or convenience, and
with her husband and four small children,
cheerfully, without complaint, she was, with
extended hands, feeling her toilsome way in
total darkness, caring- for her family.

Some years later we attended the funeral
of one of her children, a little boy. She had
never seen him. At the close of the services
she was led to the open coffin. Standing-
there tenderly and lovingly for a few moments
with tears fast falling- from her sig-htless eyes,
she passed her hands over the cold face say-
ing-, "I have never seen the dear child's face.
I must get an impression of how he looks."
The dear mother has gone where the blind
can see and where loving- eyes are never
dimmed by tears.

At the Iowa City Convention in June, ar-

36

rano-ements were made for a meetin<r in Dav-
enport on the 16th of September, for the pur-
pose of orcranizing- an association embracing
all the churches north of the Iowa river.
When the time came to go to Dav-
enport, Bro. Doolittle could furnish a horse
for me to ride. But that would not do,
as I wanted Mrs. Brown to go. The light
wagon used on the trip to Iowa City was gone.
Borrowing the rear axle, wheels and hounds
of a lumber wagon, I made a pair of shafts
from fence poles, and a seat by boring holes
in these poles, putting in wooden pins of suit-
able length and fastening a board on top. A
bundle of oats w;as used for a cushion, made
necessary by the lack of spring in the axle-
tree. With this conveyance we set out for
our forty mile ride to Davenport, having the
advantage over our Iowa City journey — of a
very well defined road. We thoroughly en-
joyed the ride over the broad prairies and
through groves, where the foot of civilized
man had been, until very recently, a stranger
since time began.

The first human habitation after leaving our
neighborhood was at Point Pleasant, Kirtley's
ferry, where we crossed the Wapsy, about
twenty-two miles from home. A few miles
farther on our way brought us to Long Grove,
where we found some Scotch families, broth-

37

ers named Brownlee, and here we stopped for
the nig-ht and were very hospitably enter-
tained by the kind, good people.

Early next day we arrived in Davenport,
where, notwithstanding- the peculiar and con-
spicuous character of our conveyance, and the
fact that road carts were not as common and
popular as in later years, we had no hesita-
tion and felt no embarrassment in driving-
throug-h Main Street and to the residence of
Dr. Witherwax, where we were invited to
stay.

Our meeting-s were held in the chamber of
a small frame building- on Front Street. The
following- churches were represented:

Bath, later LeClaire, org-anized in June 1839,
with six members.

Davenport, org-anized in September 1839,
with seven members.

Dubuque, org-anized in Aug^ust 1840, with
eleven members.

Blooming-ton, now Muscatine, org-anized in
October 1841, with five members.

Iowa City, org-anized in June 1841, with
eleven members.

Forks of the Maquoketa, org-anized in
Aug-ust 1842, with fourteen members.

Also the Church at Rock Island, Ills.

Every church north of the Iowa river was
represented, except one on the line between

38

Delaware and Jones Counties, of which Rev.
Ira Blanchard was pastor.

The pastors present were, Rev. B. Carpen-
ter, Dubuque; Rev. W. B. Morrey, Iowa City;
Rev. E. Fisher, Muscatine; Rev. T. Gillett,
Rock Island; Rev. C. K. Brown, Maquoketa.

The following-, which we quote, expresses
the spirit of the meeting-, which continued
throug-h Friday, Saturday and Sunday;

"This first meeting- of the Davenport Asso-
ciation was one of sweet and precious interest.
After sing-ing- at the close, the hymn, "From
Whence Doth This Union Arise," the breth-
ren reluctantly parted for their homes and
their work."

These were not the days of railroad coaches
and cushioned carriag-es, but of emig-rant
trails, unbridg-ed rivers, creeks and sloug-hs,
lumber wag"ons, prairie schooners and old
saddles.

But there was precious enjoyment in this
pioneer missionary life and work and we
loved it. How sweet the memory still.

Chapter V.

The winter of 1842-3, long- and cold, set in
early in November with a heavy fall of snow.

Our unfinished log- cabin away out on the
bleak prairie, was not suitable to winter in,
and with the approval of the Home Missionary
Board, we went to Davenport, intendino- to
return to Maquoketa in the Spring-.

We at once eng-ag"ed in pastoral work with
the Davenport and Rock Island Churches.
Little could have been accomplished at such a
time at Maquoketa; but there was a g-ood
opening- in the new field. For many weeks,
in the dead of that long- hard winter, revival
meetinofs \^ere held in the Rock Island Court
House, the solid ice bridg-e on the river en-
abling- the Davenport people to attend and
take part, which they did, and shared larg-ely
in the g-ood result of the work.

More that fifty new members were received
by conversion and baptism in the two churches.
Among those baptised were, Harman G. Rey-
nolds and wife, John A. Boyer and wife and
Horace Anthony and wife. Brother Reynolds
became a useful preacher of the g-ospel, and

[39]

40

died at Blue Rapids, Kansas. Brother Boyer
and wife were for more than forty years
among- the most useful and exemplary mem-
bers of the Rock Island Church until they
died in the Lord. Brother Boyer was for many
years a deacon of the church. Brother Horace
Anthony and wife were for many years hon-
ored members of the church at Camanche,
and there they died. Brother Anthony was
one of the deacons of the Camanche Church.

Another of the converts was sister Abigail
Swartout, mother of the Rev. P. R. Swartout,
an honored minister of the g-ospel in Illinois.

During- the fall of 1842, the brick walls of a
small house of worship were put up by the
Davenport Church. A few mild days in Jan-
uary were improved to put the roof on, and
in this condition it served for holding- meet-
ing's.

At Davenport in 1842-3, Johnny Dillon, a
lad of about twelve years, was one of my Sun-
day School scholars.

The family from Montg-omery County, New
York, came to Davenport in 1838. They were,
like ourselves and many other pioneers, of
limited means and the humbler walks of life;
kind, pleasant neig-hbors and g-ood friends, of
hig-h character.

The boy, John Forrest Dillon, throug-h his
own efforts, industry, integ-rity and ability,

41

became Judg-e and Chief Justice of the Su-
preme Court of Iowa, Judg-e of the United
States Circuit Court, and the author of text
books on important legal subjects, a credit to
the state of his adoption, loved, honored and
respected by its people.

His reputation as a jurist, for ability, at-
tainments, integrity and fairness, and as a
law-writer, is second to none in the country.

He resigned his position as United States
Circuit Judge, to become Professor of Equity
Jurisprudence of the Columbia Law School,
and later Chief Counsel for the Union Pacific
Railway Company, the Western Union Tele-
g-raph Company and the Missouri Pacific Rail-
way.

Judge Dillon is a gentleman of fine personal
appearance, commanding- presence, dignified,
g-enial, modest, unassuming-, kindly and ap-
proachable.

In the summer of 1843 we made several
missionary trips to points up the river, org-an-
izing- a church at Port Byron on the Illinois
side, where I baptized three into membership,
and another at Camanche, where eig-ht were
baptized at the time and more later.

The first annual meeting- of the Davenport
Association was held in Dubuque. Deacon
Calkins and myself from Davenport were del-
eg-ates. We made the eig-hty mile journey

42

tog"ether in a bug-g^y and put up the first nig-ht
at Andrew in Jackson County, about fifty
miles from Davenport.

We here found to our sorrow, that while the
Indians had g-one the bed bug-s remained. On
retiring" the deacon being- tired, was soon
sound asleep, but the elder didn't and couldn't
g-o to sleep. Later the attack became so stren-
uous he g-ot up and retreated to the door
yard and then to a cabin where he found the
horse and a nest of pig's.

The pigs vacated, and after remaining- a
time he decided to try the bed ag-ain, thinking-
the deacon would by this time monopolize the
bug's, but to his amazement they were as
plentiful as ever, and ten fleas to every bug-.
He then surrendered without condition,
giving- up all idea of sleep or rest, and longed
for day. These things are mentioned, not in
the w^ay of complaint, but as an instance of
the spice of pioneer life

We had at Dubuque a grand, good meeting,
six new churches joining the association.
Meetings were held in the Baptist Church, a
small frame building sixteen by twenty-four
feet. This was the first house of worship
built by the Baptists in Iowa. The Daven-
port Church was the second. Returning
home, we put up the first night wdth Deacon
Montague near Andrew; very pleasant people,

43

just out from New York. They lived in a
log- cabin, roofed with broad boards which
were badly warped.

A heavy thunder storm came up in the
nig-ht and literally rained us out of bed.
Deacon Calkins, being- much more sensitive
to water than to bed bug's, soon turned out,
but the elder stayed until the water beg-an
running- into the bed. We felt very sorry for
Sister Montag-ue in her eifort to save the nice
thing-s she broug-ht with her from her eastern
home. Nothing- further of interest occurred
on our journey home.

In the summer of 1843, Capt. Wilson, who
ran the ferry between Davenport and Rock
Island, put on a horse-power boat in place of
a little scow or yawl, which was a g-reat im-
provement.

Chapter VI.

Our next field of labor was at LeClaire,
fifteen miles above Davenport on the river, at
the head of the upper rapids, where we went
in the spring- of 1844. The summer of 1844
was one of high winds, floods and tornados.

The second annual meeting of the Terri-
torial Missionary Convention was held at Mt.
Pleasant in Henry County, in June. Brothers
James Turner, William Palmer and myself
were deleg-ates from LeClaire. For the
journey I furnished a lig-ht lumber wag-on and
Brother Turner ahorse. To lig-hten the load
the box, except the bottom boards, was taken
off. Rain and heavy roads made our prog-ress
slow. We put up on the second nig-ht about
half way between Muscatine and Wapello,
then the county seat of Louisa County, and if
clouds ever bursted they did all of that
nig-ht. Far away on the uninhabited g-rounds
west of Wapello we came about noon the next
day to Crooked Creek which was booming-.
. It was about thirty feet wide and ten feet
deep. Fording- was out of the question. We
must swim or turn back, and g-oing- back was
no part of the prog-ramme.

[44]

45

Finding a grape vine near I cut and pulled
it out of the tree. Taking- the wagon to
pieces we used the bottom boards for a raft
The g-rape vine was fastened to one end and
the lines from the harness to the other. I
swam the creek with the g-rape vine, and by
pulling- the raft back and forth the running-
g-ear of the wag-on and our bag-gage was fer-
ried across. Then the horse was driven in
and caug-ht on the opposite side, and lastly
Bros. Turner and Palmer sw^am over. This
took time and it was eleven o'clock at night
when we reached the banks of Big- Creek four
miles from Mt. Pleasant, and found it flooded
and impassable by team, and no human habi-
tation in sig-ht. Calls long- and loud at length
obtained a reply from a man on the opposite
bank who said that half a mile above w^e would
find a cabin, which we did and w^ere very
kindly entertained for the nig-ht. My com-
panions being elderly men occupied a bed,
and I the floor, before a cheerful fire. In the
morning- we crossed the creek on a tree fallen
for that purpose, and walked a few miles to
Mt. Pleasant, there being neither ford or
ferry for our conveyance. The convention
meeting-s were held on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday, and thoug-h roads and weather w^ere
bad there was a g^ood attendance and the meet-
ing's were very interesting-, and we felt amply

46

compensated for all our trouble in petting-
there. There was no rain durino- the meet-
ing-s and our journey home wns made without
troul)le.

During- our stay at LeClaire, a comfortable
brick church with stone basement w^as erected.
The credit for building- this church was larg-e-
ly due to my w'ife. We went to New York
for the winter of 1844-5, and while there Mrs.
Brown collected money enoug-h to make a
beg-inning-. I quarried rock for the basement
and tended the mason. In the summer of
1845, Elder J. U, Seeley, pastor of the Baptist
Church at Muscatine, w^ith a man and horse
towed a flat boat up the river fifty miles to
Port Byron for lime to build a meeting- house
for his cong-reg-ation. I g-ave him the lumber
for doors and window^s. That was the way
churches were built in Iowa in early days.
While pastor of the LeClaire Church I
entered some land on the prairie a few
miles west of town and built a small brick
house, which we occupied until the fall of
1847. Our nearest neig-hbor was a Scotch-
Irish family of Campbells, half a mile to the
south. East, west and north, the illimitable
prairie spread out w^ithout human habitation
in sig-ht.

Between our place and LeClaire lived a
family of Cody's, and one of the sons, then a

47

young- boy, was William P. Cody, who became
Buffalo Bill, the famous scout and showman.
James DeGrush Brown, our third child and
son, was born in the brick house on the
prairie, February 9th, 1846. In the summer
of 1846, my father and mother made us a most
welcome visit, driving- with one horse and a
covered bugg-y from Madison County, New
York, to Scott County, Iowa, a notable jour-
ney. They were six weeks on the road each
way. During- our pioneer days in Iowa, 1842
to 1851, the Indian tribes, from whom the
land was had by purchase and treaty, were
frequent visitors. They were the genuine
Aborig-ines, uncontaminated by contact with
the whites. As a rule friendly but when
g*ame was scarce disposed to make free with
the cattle and hog-s of the settlers, and their
presence always excited some fear of possible
dang-er. They were savages and we never
knew what they might do. These Indians
were fine specimens of their race; stalw^art,
dig-nified, comely, active and fearless; well
supplied with wig'wams, ponies, robes and
blankets, bow^s, arrows and g-uns. A visit to
their camp was always interesting- In these
early days prairie fires were novel, exciting-,
and often dang-erous incidents. In the fall
when the heavy g-rowth of grass on prairie
and in sloug-hs w^as dead and dry they were

48

frequent. Seen in the ni^fht, driven swiftly
by hi^h winds, extending- for miles, and
lig-htintr the heavens with their lurid <4-low, the
sio-ht was something- to remember.

Pioneer life on the far western border had
its compensations as well as its hardships,
privations and trials. The early settlers were
proverbially hospitable. Neighbors were
sociable, kindly, sympathetic and helpful; and
people who lived this life, as a rule loved it,
and preferred it to any other.

At LeClaire in the fall of 1843, under the
labors of Elder J. N. Seeley, a precious and
powerful revival of relig-ion occurred, twenty-
two being- added to the church by conversion
and baptism at the time and more later.

Chapter VII.

We remained five years in Scott County,
from the fall of 1842 until the fall of 1847,
when we returned to Maquoketa. We made
several visits to that place during* the time,
and always felt g-reatly interested in it. Mr.
John E. Goodenow. one of the first settlers
and proprietor of the town site, presented
me with a lot, on the corner of Piatt and Eliza
Streets, on which to build a home. The little
town had at that time two small g-eneral stores;
a blacksmith shop, a small brick school house
and a hotel, and probably about two hundred
people. Between the north and south forks of
the Maquoketa river, north and west of town,
was the finest body of timber then known in
the Territory, owing- to the fact that the
rivers and conformation of the adjacent coun-
try protected it from the ravag-es of prairie
fires.

There was no finer farming- country, soil
or surrounding-s to be found in the west. We
built a comfortable little home on the lot Mr.
Goodenow g-ave us and occupied it until May,
1851.

We at once resumed pastoral work at

[49]

50

Maquoketa and in Fc'l)ruar\' followino- re-
org-anized the church with sixteen members.
Durino' this winter the Baptists and Metho-
dists joined in holding- revival meeting-s. re-
sulting* in g-reat gfood work. The re-organized
Baptist Church consisted of nine male and
seven female members. The first new mem-
bers received by baptism were two young-
ladies, Frances Mears and Mary Pang-born,
most excellent and exemplary Christians.
My outlying stations for missionary work in
the Maquoketa field were LaMotte, twent}^
miles to the north; Pence's School House,
nine miles w^est on Bear Creek; Burlesons,
six miles west, and Wright's Corners, tw^o
miles south, where we held very interesting-
meetings in the chamber of Mr. Wright's new
house. Appointments were occasionally made
and filled at Cascade and Andrew; small out-
lying settlements. The pastor and church
who confine their work to the narrow limits of
the town where they are located cannot have
much of the gospel missionary spirit. They
need more of the spirit of enlargement that
animated the church at Jerusalem when God
scattered the members and they went abroad
preaching the Word.

Deacon Phillip went down to Samaria and
beg-an revival meeting-s, preaching- the prec-
ious g-ospel, and there was g-reat joy in that

51

city; "For when they believed Phillip preach-
ing- the thing-s concerning- the kingdom of
God, and the name of Jesus Christthey were
baptized, both men and women."

Peter and others came down from Jerusa-
lem and they went on with the good work.
When we next hear of Phillip he is away
southwest of Jerusalem. Coming out upon
the g-reat road from Jerusalem to Gaza, he
met the Ethiopian Eunuch in his chariot read-
ing the book of Isaiah so full of Christ and
salvation. God prepares the way for the
missionary spirit. Philip said to the Eunuch,
''Understandest thou what thou readest?"
"How can I unless some man guides me."
"Come with me in the chariot," said the
Eunuch, and Phillip began at the same script-
ure and preached Jesus unto him. And they
came to a certain water and the Eunuch said,
"Here is water, what doth hinder me to be
baptized?" And Phillip said, "If thou believ-
eth with all thine heart thou mayest;" and he
answered and said, "I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God." And they went
down into the water, both Phillip and the
Eunuch and he baptized him. Here is an
admirable illustration of the simplicity and
adaptability of the gospel. . Philip did not say
"I am only a deacon, wait while I go to Jeru-
salem for Peter and he will baptize you No,

Phillip baptized him tind he went on his way
rejoicin<4", doubtless preacliinj^' Jesus on the
wav and when he ^ot home to Ethiopia

When we study this bit of Philli])'s history,
how he preached and baptized, re^-ardless of
modern ritualism and formalism, and the
oflorious results that followed, we feel as we
imag-ine Father Leonard, a shouting- Metho-
dist, did in our boyhood days. He was a
small man but a great shouter, and some of
his brethren thoug-ht he didn't shout at just
the rig-ht time, and remonstrated with him,
and he promised to restrain his feeling-s and
was remarkably quiet for some time. But one
day, in a g-ood old-fashioned meeting-, he w^as
seen rubbing- his hands and shrug-ging- his
shoulders, when straig-htening- up he shouted,
"Amen, praise the Lord." "Amen, hit or
miss."

We do need in our churches more of
Phillip's missionary spirit.

While at Maquoketa a suitable lot was se-
cured for a meeting- house.

In 1845 the Maquoketa people beg-an to plan
for an Academy, and Mr. Goodenow, always
public spirited, g-enerous and enterprising-,
donated a handsome site for the building-. In
1849 the work was taken up and vigorously
prosecuted.

Early in the fall of that year at the instance

53

of the trustees, I went to Eastern New York
to solicit funds. Many of the early settlers
came from that section and had friends and
acquaintances there.

I found the iron industry, in which the cap-
ital and labor of that part of the state was
larg-ely employed, paralyzed by adverse tariff
leg-islation, (Democratic free trade policy).
Business was dull, times hard and money
scarce, and ver}^ little could be done in the
way of obtaining- aid for the Maquoketa Acad-
emy. But in spite of discourag-ement the
work went on, and the building-, handsome and
commodious for the time and place, was com-
pleted.

Mechanics and laborers eng-ag-ed on the
work were boarded in the families of enter-
prising- citizens to help along-, the pioneer
wives and mothers cheerfully contributing-
time and toil in the g-ood cause. Competent
teachers were employed and many of the
children of the Maquoketa settlers laid there
the substantial foundation for their education.
Dr. Lake from Kentucky was the first teacher
and an uncommonly g-ood one, capable and
thoroug-h.

Good lessons and deportment and thoroug-h
training- was the rule. Dr. Lake was for more
than forty years a resident of Maquoketa,
and died there loved and respected b}^ all. My

54

brother-in-law, Mr. James O. DeGrush, of
Little Falls, New York, with his wife, Mrs.
Brown's sister, visited us at Maquoketa in
the summer of 1850.

In June I w-ent with them as far as Rock
Island on their homeward journey.

Returning- with a heavy load of goods for
one of our merchants, I was on the road most
of one night, w^iich, thou<jfh in midsummer,
w^as cold with heavy dew.

Getting- chilled and taking- a severe cold I
was very soon the subject of a serious attack
of inflammatory rheumatism, confining me to
the house and often to my bed much of the
time for many months. My general health
became so badly broken I decided in the
spring- of 1851 to return to New York in the
hope of regaining* it.

Accordingly, on Tuesday, May 26th, 1851,
all needful preparations having been made,
we took leave of Maquoketa and our w^estern
friends and acquaintances, and with our own
conveyance, fitted up for making- the journey
overland, turned our faces toward our old
home in the far east.

Chapter VIII.

At Maquoketa on the 20th day of June 1848,
our oldest son, Benjamin Perry Brown, then
in his ninth year, was drowned in the Maquo-
keta river.

In the afternoon of that day permission was
o-iven him and his youno-er brother, Charles,
to g-o bathing" with the understanding- that
they were to g-o below the Sear's Mill, where
the water was shallow and safe.

They very soon fell in with some town boys,
playmates, who were on their way to the river
for a swim and were g"oing- to Brown's Pord,
above the mill and dam, in deep water. Some
of these boys at once began urging* our chil-
dren to accompany them, and after a long-
parley, at the place w^here the road to the ford
put off from the one leading- down below the
mill, Benny and Charles went with them.
The boys were all young-, none more than ten
or twelve years of age. Benny w^as the first
one in the water, and was at once beyond his
depth. Oscea, son of John E. Goodenow, was
the only one wath presence of mind to g-o for
help. It came very soon but too late. With-
in an hour from the time the boys left home

[55]

56

Benny's lifeless body was hrou<i;-ht back. He
was of an uncommonly amiable, winnin^r dis-
position; lovincr and obedient, considerate and
conscientious beyond his years. His sudden
death was a terrible affliction and the blow
fell wnth crushing- weig-ht upon his mother,
who idolized him.

At our little home in Maquoketa another
sad occurrence was the death of Nelson
Walker, Mrs. Brow^n's nephew. He was a
young- man of the highest character and prom-
ise, very capable and energ^etic, just g'oing'
into business with every prospect of success.

He made friends of all he met and his un-
timely death was deeply mourned by relatives
and friends.

We left Maquoketa for New York on May
26th, 1851, just nine years to a day from the
time we came there, intending- to make the
journey with our own conveyance, but on Sat-
urday following- rain beg-an and continued to
such an extent that arriving- at Chicago we felt
compelled to abandon the plan. We crossed
the lake by steamer to New Buffalo, where we
took the cars on the Michigan Central road to
Detroit, and a Lake Erie steamboat from
Detroit to Buffalo. From Buffalo to Little
Palls in Herkimer County, we went with our
conveyance. Our first location in New York
was at Holland Patent in Onedia County,

57

where my fathei was pastor of the Baptist
Church and where we remained a year, and
my health steadily improved. While here I
supplied the church at Steuben, a few miles
north.

The place was named for Baron Steuben, a
German nobleman, who did valuable service
on our side in the war of the revolution. The
state of New York o-ranted him sixteen thou-
sand acres of land, then a dense wilderness
of heavy timber. The loc^ cabin where he
spent his summers, and hisg-rave, marked by
a plain marble slab, were on this tract of land.
In the sprinor of 1852 we went to Russia, in
Herkimer County, and preached to the church
at that place for a year; and in March 1853, I
ag-ain became pastor of the Norway, Herkimer
County Church, occupying- the parsonag-e
where we beg-an housekeeping- in November
1838.

The extreme anti-slavery views and preach-
ing- of a former pastor had divided the church.
Althoug-h decidedly anti-slavery myself, I
took sides with neither party and made no
direct effort for reconciliation or harmony,
discourag-ing- all reference to the trouble. A
letter written December 5th following- and
published in the Watchman of Boston, sets
forth the course I pursued and results:

58

Norway, Herkimer County, N. Y.
December 5th, 1853.

Dear Brother Editor:

In the autumn of 1838, just from the institu-
tion at Hamilton, I commenced my first pas-
toral labors with this church, which were
continued some eighteen or twenty months.
During that time it was my privilege to bap-
tize seventeen into the fellowship of the church.
After spending thirteen years in other parts of
the great harvest, nine of them in the Western
Valley, an inscrutable and all-wise Providence
has returned me to the people of my first
charge, and to occupy the same residence
where my dear companion joined me in the
responsibilities of housekeeping. I commenc-
ed labor here last March, but what a change
had come over the condition and prospects of
this branch of God's beloved Zion. The once
united, prosperous, happy and efficient church
was divided and distracted, brotherly love
gone, confidence and Christian fellowship gone.
That good Christian influence which she
once exerted in the community gone. The
communion was neglected for two years. The
work was commenced with the firm convic-
tion that salvation depended upon the gracious
work of the Divine Spirit. The preaching
during the summer had this conviction con-
stantly in view. At Covenant meeting in
September the proposition was made and
agreed to that all agitation of the subject of

59

discord should cease in private and public and
they would resume travel as a church by ob-
serving the ordinance of the Lord's Supper
the following Sabbath. It was indeed an in-
teresting season. At prayer meeting that
Sabbath evening the Good Spirit was present,
and before the next Covenant meeting we were
in the midst of a revival, with weeping souls
saying, "Pray for us," and all hearts melted
in view of the matchless mercy and kindness
of God. At our third communion season,
observed monthly, the hand of fellowship was
given to ten joyful converts who had just been
baptized. And others followed. While coun-
cils and meetings to talk over troubles hardly
ever result in peace, harmony and brotherly
love, the presence of the Divine Spirit never
fails.

Chapter IX.

At the parsonatre in Norway on July 29th,
1853, William Carlos and Georg-e Lyon Brown,
twin sons, were born to us.

We were in central and western New York
until July 1857, g'oing- from Norway to Fen-
ner, Madison County, the fall of 1854, and to
Orleans County in the spring- of 1856. Having-
reg*ained health, the Home Missionary Society
ag-ain desig-nated me for a field of labor in
Iowa.

On Tuesday, July 14th, 1857, with my fam-
ily, Mrs. Brown. James, Willie and Georg-e, I
left Buffalo on the steamer "Southern Mich-
ig-an" for Toledo, our oldest son Charles re-
maining- in Orleans County.

Arriving- at Toledo 2 p. m. Wednesday, w^e
took the Michig-an Southern and Indiana
Northern Railway to Chicag-o. Mrs. Brown
and the children went by rail, Chicag-o to
DeWitt, and I by my own conveyance, horse
and bug-g-y to Maquoketa. After visiting- rel-
atives and friends at Maquoketa, I left for
Northeastesn Iowa, July 30th, to find a field
for labor, the selection of a location being- left
to me, stopping- the first nig-ht at Dubuque.

[60]

61

On the first nig-ht out of Dubuque I put up
with a German family just west of Gutten-
burg".

The weather was hot, and German bedding-
— a heavy feather bed under and a lighter one
for cover, made it a perspiring* time. Satur-
day, Aug-ust 1, arrived atRossville, Alamakee
County, where I spent the Sabbath, preach-
ing- twice.

Here I met Elder James Schofield, with
whom I was to counsel as to a location. But
as he knew little of the country west of
Alamakee County, the matter was left to my
own judg-ment. On Monday I drove nine miles
to Waukon, stopping- with Mr. A. J. Hershey.
Elder L. M. Newell was pastor at Alamakee.
I met here Brother Samuel Hill who was
licensed to preach and who proposed to g-o
with me.

I found him pleasant company and a g-ood
missionary worker. We w^ent on Tuesday to
Preeport, Winnishiek County, stopping- with
the family of Brother Leach.

Here I found several Baptist brethren, and
made an appointment to preach on Wednes-
day evening-. On Wednesday we walked to
Decorah, a few miles, and back. We had a
g-ood cong-reg-ation in the evening-, and Broth-
er Hill preached.

On Thursday we followed the Iowa river to

62

BliifFton, twelve miles eibove Decorah, where I
found Elder Rice and several Baptist families

Elder Rice was a brother of Elders Wm.
and Lorenzo Rice, who were fellow students
with me at Madison University in Hamilton,
New York.

On Friday, August 7th, we continued our
journey to New Oregon and Vernon Springs,
in Howard County, stopping at night with
Rev. J. W. Windsor, pastor of the New
Oregon Congregational Church.

Brother Windsor was a near neighbor and
friend of ours at Maquoketa in 1848. He was
living on a farm two miles northwest of Ver-
non Springs. I learned from him that there
were several Baptist families in that vicinity.
On Saturday, August 8th, we went to Vernon
where we found and called on a number of
Baptists. Elder Chas. H. Roe of Belvidere,
111., w^as there visiting relatives and friends,
and Elder P. S. Whitman, whom we visited at
Belvidere, 111 , in May 1842, on our first jour-
ney west, was living at Vernon. We found
a very general desire for the organization of a
Baptist Church and arranged for meetings for
the following day, Sunday, August 9th, Broth-
er Roe to preach at Vernon Springs, and I at
Father Fuller's, a few miles to the southwest
on the prairie.

On Sunday afternoon a meeting for consul-

63

tation was held by the Baptist brothers and
sisters of Vernon, and arrang-ements were
made to meet on Tuesday, at the residence of
Judg-e Samuel P. Gilcrest, whose wife, Mary
Ann Gilcrest, was a Baptist. We had an
excellent meeting- at the appointed time and
resolved to org-anize a church on the following-
Sunday,

On Wednesday Brother Hill and I started
west to visit Riceville, Osag-e and Mitchell, in
Mitchell County, stopping- the first nig-ht at
Riceville, and g'oing- next day to Osag-e and
Mitchell. This being- Thursday and as we
were to be at Vernon Spring's ag-ain on Satur-
day we had little time at these places. On
Friday morning-, August 14th, we set out to
return by way of Pettibone.

Rain fell heavily the preceding- nig-ht and
roads were bad and sloug-hs full, and a mile
east of Pettibone we stuck in one and had to
unhitch and get the bug-g-y out by hand.
Nieht and darkness found us still out on the
prairie southwest of Vernon, where we put up
at the farm house of Pratt Wallace. An
early start on Saturday broug-ht us to Vernon
Spring-s in time for breakfast. Vernon
Spring-s was located in a beautiful little valley.
Judg-e Samuel F. Gilcrest of Mt. Vernon,
Ohio, one of the early settlers, gave it the
name, Vernon in remembrance of his Ohio

64

home. Several spring's sending- out at the
head of the valley a volume of sparkling- crys-
tal water sufficient to make a g-ood sized stream
winding- prettily down for a mile to the Tur-
key river, sug-g-ested the balance of the name.

At the foot of the little run was the A. H.
Harris mill and pond, and a bluff on the oppo-
site bank was covered by a handsome g-rowth
of fine timber, The surrounding- country was
prairie, rolling- and fertile, flecked with g-roves
of oak, hazel brush and crabapple, making- a
landscape of rare beauty.

Indian trails, well worn and deep from long-
use followed the banks of all the streams.
The Turkey river, a considerable stream, ran
across the foot of the Vernon Spring-s valley,
and was skirted with handsome g-roves.

There was at this time a g-eneral store,
postoffice, blacksmith shop, tavern, and a
frame building- put up for a court house, and
about a dozen families. The mill fitted for
g-rinding- g-rain and sawing- log-s brought people
from a distance.

It was the family home for many years, and
around it cluster tender recollections and fond
memories of the past. It is for many reasons
a hallowed spot and will ling-er in loving- re-
membrance while life lasts.

Chapter X.

Saturday, August 15th, was spent in pas-
toral calls and work, Brother Hill preached in
the evening-.

Sunday was stormy. Elder Pierson, pas-
tor of the Baptist Church at Leroy, who was
invited down, preached in the morning- and I
in the afternoon, after which the dear little
church was org-anized.

The members were, Rev. P. S. Whitman
and Mrs. Carrie Whitman, his wife; Father
John Bowers and Sister Clarinda Bowers, his
wife; Mrs. Mary Ann Gilcrest, wife of Judge
Samuel P. Gilcrest; Levi Fuller and Mrs.
Mary Harris.

At this meeting, to encourage the little
band and extend the right hand of fellowship,
there were present, Rev. Chas. H. Roe, of
Belvidere, Illinois, Rev. C. G. Pierson of
Leroy, Minn.; Rev. S. Hill of Boston, and Rev.
C. E. Brown of the Home Missionary Society.
It was held at 4 p. m., Sunday, August 16th,
1857, in the up stairs room of the court house
at Vernon.

Our household goods had been shipped to
Lansing, Alamakee County; and having decid-

[65]

66

ed to locate at Vernon Spring-s, I went with a
neig-hbor and two teams after them; leavino-
Vernon on Wednesday, September 2nd, re-
turning- Saturday, the 4th, and on next Wed-
nesday, the 9th, started for Maquoketa to g-et
Mrs. Brown and the children, who were then
visiting- relatives and friends.

Arriving- at Maquoketa Friday the 11th, we
started the following- Monday for our new
home, away northwest in the "Neutral Lands
of the Winnebag-oes."

We reached Vernon Springs on Monday,
September 21st, 1857, all well and thankful,
and were very cordially welcomed by all and
were entertained by Brother C. W. Sawyer
and wife, who at that time were proprietors
of the Big- Spring- House, a log- cabin, twelve
by^ eig-hteen feet, with a lean-to behind. The
main part was divided into tw^o rooms by a
bed sheet hung- up for a partition, one of the
rooms being- occupied by the county officers.

We at once took possession of a house at
the head of the valley, rented for a temporary
home, with Judge S F. Gilcrest, Jno. M.
Field, Rev. P. S. Whitman and Chas. W.
Sawyer and families for our neig-hbors. Ver-
non Spring's was at this time the county seat
of How^ard Count v, and the people had put up
a fair sized frame building- for a Court House.

Very soon after, the county seat was re-

67
moved to Howard Center, five miles west,
leaving- the Vernon building- for school and
church purposes. The lower rooms were
used for school purposes and the upper was
pleasant and comfortable, for meeting's. To
furnish seats and a pulpit Mr. Cottrell, living-
in the g-rove, g-ave us a larg-e bass wood tree.
Brother Sawyer and I cut it into log's and
hauled it to the mill.

Mr. A. H. Harris, the mill owner, always
public spirited and g'enerous, g-ave us an elm
log- and sawed all into suitable lumber, and our
meeting- room was soon comfortably seated
and furnished for use.

The first Covenant meeting- of the new
church was held at Brother Sawyer's Sep-
tember 26th, when Father Benjamin Fuller
and myself and wife became members.

At a meeting- the next day Brothers Whit-
man, Fuller and myself were appointed dele-
g'ates to the Dubuque Association, soon to
meet at West Union, where our church was to
apply for admission.

At the next Covenant meeting-, October 31,
Sister Eliza Bushell united by letter, and the
following- day Brother James Watson was
baptized in the Turkey river and received
into membership.

Beg-inning- Aug-ust 1857, with a little band
of eight, the membership in two years in-

68

creased to thirty, and within the year follow-
ing- to over sixty.

At the organization of the church Brother
P. S. Whitman was made clerk and served
until April 1859, when Brother C. W. Sawyer
succeeded him, Brother Whitman moving"
away.

Father John Bowsers w^as chosen deacon
December 6th, 1857, and served until 1863,
when a stroke of apoplexy destroyed mind
and health.

Brother James Siddall w^as chosen a deacon
and served faithfully until his death.

On Sunday, March 11th, 1860, Brother John
Milton Bowers and Jane, his wife, and Broth-
er D. A. Adams and Helena, his wife, and
others, were baptized, and on Sunday, April
16th following-. Brother William Woodward
and seven others w^ere baptized and became
members of the church.

In 1861 a school house w^as built and meet-
ingfs were held in it thereafter.

The winter of 1857-8 set in cold, with heavy
snow early in November, mercury g'oing to
sixteen below^ zero, but November proved the
coldest month. A thaw took off the snow the
last of the month and the Turkey river was
flooded frequently during the winter.

Among the families of How^ard County
pioneers who w^ere near and valued friends

69

was that of Brother Geo. W. Fall, who came a
year before we did, and was living- with his
wife and four daughters in a log- cabin on the
farm of Chester M. Carver, a mile south of
Vernon. Brother Pall was a licensed minis-
ter of the Methodist Church, but not regu-
larly engaged in the work.

While quite a young man he had the misfor-
tune to lose a leg. Notwithstanding this he
was a very capable, active and tireless worker,
a p-ood neigfhbor and a kind friend; his cheery
voice and face made him always welcome. He
died in How^ard County at the home of his
daughter, Mrs. Mary Carver, in July 1900, in
his eighty-eighth year, loved, honored, re-
spected and mourned by all who knew him;
his consistent, christian life, faith and hope
maintained to the last. Sister Hannah Pall,
his wife, who preceded him to a better land a
few years, was in every w^ay a worthy com-
panion.

The four daughters, Mary, Arvilla, Adeline
and Sylvia, were very bright, attractive and
interesting girls of high character.

Mary became the wife of Chester M. Car-
ver; Arvilla and Reuben W. Beadle were mar-
ried in June, 1860.

On August 30th, 1866, Adeline the third
daughter, and my oldest son. Charles P.
Brown, were married by me at Brother Pall's

70

residence in Vernon Springs. Sylvia, (Tib-
bie) became the wife of W. B. Morey.

Mr. and Mrs. Carver and Mr. and Mrs.
Beadle were near and valued neio;-hbors and
friends for many years.

Judg-e Samuel P. Gilcrest, from Mount Ver-
non, Ohio, was one of the prominent early set-
tlers. He was an educated, courteous and
kindly gentleman of high character and a
capable, successful attorney. His thoroug-h
knowledg-e of the country was very useful to
settlers in locating land claims and entries.
Sister Mary Ann Gilcrest, his wife, was a
highly esteemed member of the Baptist
Church.

Their family consisted of three sons, Frank,
Murray and John, and one daug-hter, Inez
Aug^usta.

Judge Gilcrest went to California over land
in the summer of 1859, and his family followed
a few years later.

Judge and Sister Gilcrest died in California
some years since.

Inez, whose husband, Mr. Hugh Craig-, is a
prominent citizen and business man of San
Francisco, is living- with an interesting family
in Oakland.

Frank, Murray and John with their families
have homes; Frank in Oakland, John inOreg-on,

,>^""

71

and Murray in Wyoming-. All honorable and
successful business men.

Among- the earliest acquaintances and
friends made in Lime Springs was the family
of C. C. Hewitt, who settled in the country in
1855, coming- from Northeastern Illinois,
where Mr. Hewitt had been engfao-ed as con-
tractor in the construction of the Chicagfo &
Galena Union Railway.

Mr. Hewitt located his claim about one and
one-half miles west of the old town of Lime
Springs, a beautiful quarter section with the
low^a river running- throug-h the southeast
corner.

In the autumn of 1855, a log- cabin for the
family and a shelter for the yoke of cattle
were built. The family consisting- of father
and mother and a little baby g-irl named
Ella were made as comfortable as possible for
the approaching winter, and the work of
fencing- and other preparations for breaking-
up and working- the farm in the ensuing- spring-
were made.

Mrs. Hewitt's maiden name was Mary E.
Chesebro, and she was a daug-hter of Mrs.
M. M. Marsh. Mr. Chesebro died in Court-
land County, New York, and the w^idow mar-
ried Mr. Marsh.

Two brothers, Oscar and Oliver Chesebro,
with their families, came to Lime Spring-s

with the Hewitt's. Oscar pre-empted a quar-
ter about half a mile east of the Hewitt claim,
while Oliver built a log cabin in the villa^-e
just across the road from the one built and
occupied for many years by Esquire Marsh
and family.

The long rides in the cold and storms of
our northern Iowa winters, which were made
every second week to meet my appointments
at Lime Spring's, were often tedious, but the
warm and generous welcome to the hospitality
of those frontier homes alw^ays abundantly
repaid the inconvenience and discomfort of
the trip.

Mrs Brown and the twin boys, George and
Willie, often accompanied me on these trips,
and the boys found many congenial compan-
ions and playmates among the children at
Lime Springs.

At a donation party given for my benefit in
the log house of Squire Marsh, during the
winter of 1860, my son Willie, then only seven
years old, met Ella Hew^itt, at that time six,
and the mutual interest and admiration were
noted -by many present. The acquaintance
thus early made continued almost w^ithout in-
terruption; and fourteen years later, in the
presence of many who had noticed the begin-
ning of the courtship, I married the couple at

-sssf^r^

r

^

^-

'V

fXjL'^U^

73

the Hewitt home in the "new towm" or station
of Lime Spring's.

Among- the families that settled in and
about Lime Spring-s I recall the Sanborn's,
Cook's, Knowlton's, Ober's, Haven's, Craig-'s,
Paddock's, Burg-ess' Van Leuven's, Moulton's,
Greenleaf's, Aleck and Georg-e Searles, Bunk-
er's, Johnson's. Well's. Dr. Reed and many
others, all g-ood citizens and g-ood neig-hbors.
Brother Alonzo Sag-e and wife. Father Rey-
nolds, Brother William Reynolds and family,
Father Buckland and family. Brother D. M.
Fuller and family w^ill always be remembered
with kindly g-ratitude and love.

Mr. Hewitt, Father and Mother Marsh,
Oliver and Julia Chesebro, Oscar Chesobro,
and almost every person in active life in those
early days, have passed from life's activities
and are sleeping- peacefully in the cemetery
which overlooks the beautiful valley where
they located and ^vhich they loved so well.

Esquire Marsh and family left their home
in Courtland County, New^ York, the autumn
of 1836, coming- by canal from Central New
York to Buffalo, and by sailing- v^essel from
Buffalo to Chicag-o.

More than three weeks were consumed in
making- the trip from Buffalo to Chicag-o, the
vessel entered Lake Michig-an three times.

74

being- twice blown back throug-h the straits of
Mackinack by adverse winds.

The family first settled in Illinois in the
neig^hborhood of Elgin, emigrating to Howard
County in the early fifties.

Mr. Marsh built and operated one of the
first grrist mills in Howard County. He was
a man of high character, unquestioned integ-
rity and his uniform kindness of heart and
courtesy won for him a place in the respect,
confidence and esteem of the community, such
as few men enjoy and w^hich lasted through a
long- and useful life.

Early in the sixties the Richards family,
consisting of the father Joseph Richards, his
wife and four children, William, Benton, Mar-
garet and Annette, moved from Otranto,
Minn., to Vernon Springs, and for a number
of years kept the tavern in the village

William was a pleasant friend and compan-
ion of our older boys, while Bent and our twin
boys, George and Will, were almost inseper-
able playmates.

Joseph Richards enlisted in the army in
1862 and saw hard service in the Indian cam-
paigns" following- the Sioux massacres of that
year. He was honorably discharg-ed from the
service after being seriously wounded in bat-
tle, and returned to Vernon Springs, w^here
he lived many years and where he died. Mrs.

MRS. W. C. BROWN
MRS. C, C, HEWITT

MASTER WILLIAM BROWN PIERCE
FIVE GENERATIONS

MRS. FRANK E. PIEKCE

ESQ- M. M. MARSH

75

Richards died in Cresco, to which place she
moved after her husband's death.

William and Marg-aret took advantag-e of
every opportunity to acquire an education,
and were among- the most efficient school
teachers of those early days. William later
studied Civil Eng-ineerin^ and became an
eng-ineer of ability.

Marg-aret married Henry Thayer, who died
some years ag"o. Mrs. Thayer still lives on
the old home place west of Bonair.

Nettie suffered from a disease of the eyes
which left her entirely blind, and she died
many years ag-o. She was a patient sufferer
for a number of years.

Benton, the young-er boy, eng-a^ed in min-
ing- and has located in Montana or Wash-
ington.

Chester M. Carver of Stockbridg-e, Madi-
son County, New York, left home in April
1856, for Kansas, visiting-, enroute with
friends at Solon, Ohio, where he met Mr.
Appollos White from Howard County, who
recommended that place for a location. Act-
ing* on this advice Mr. Carver came in May
and boug-ht a fine claim a mile south of Vernon.
In September 1856, Brother Fall from Beloit,
Wis., with his family, for a home in North
Iowa, met Mr. White at McGreg-or, low^a; who
advised him to look at Howard County, which

76

he did. At Geo. Warren's he met Mr. Carver
who proposed to fix up the cabin on his claim
for the family. This plan was carried out
and in the spring' of 1857 Mr. Carver became
a member of the family, and in December
1859, he and Mary, the oldest of the four
daughters, were married. Mr. Carver has
been a resident of Howard County more than
fifty years; about fifteen years on the farm
south of Vernon; several years in Cresco, and
nearly thirty years on a farm joining- the town
on the west. The Carver's are people of the
hig-hest character, an honor and credit to any
community.

One of our near neighbors in Vernon was
Mr. C. W. Sawver, who with his wife and
family, came in February 1856, and kept the
first hotel in town, a little log- cabin near the
Whitman spring. It was not roomy but was
home-like — wath a good table, clean beds and
tidy rooms, and guests met a cheery welcome.
Mr. Sawyer was the flour maker at the Harris
mill many years. He enlisted in Capt. James
H. B. Harris' Co. I, 38th Iowa Infantry in
August 1862; w^as chosen Second Sergeant
and served faithfully and bravely for three
years until the end of the war. He w^as for
eleven years the faithful and efficient deputy
sheriff of the county. Brother and Sister
Sawyer were exemplary Christians and mem-

77

bers of the church. She died at Cresco Aug-.
9th, 1888, and he Dec. 14th, 1902. Of the four
daughters, Eliza married Mr. Geo. Snyder;
Josepihne, Mr. H. Middlebrook; Carrie, Mr.
W. G. Wildman, and Sarah, Prof. L. E. A.
Ling-.

William Kellow, born in Cornwall, Eng-land,
in 1822; came to the U. S. in 1853, and to
Howard County in 1856. Mr. Kellow was a
stone mason, learning- his trade in Eng-land, a
skillful, tireless worker. He boug-ht a farm
a mile north of Vernon, w^here himself and
family lived for more than thirty years, sell-
ino- to make a home in Cresco. Mr. and Mrs.
Kellow were orig'inal members of the Vernon
Spring-s Methodist Church, both leading- ex-
emplary Christian lives. Mrs. Kellow died
at Cresco, July 2nd, 1901, and he followed her
to the better land June 3rd, 1904, in his
eig-hty-second year, leaving- five children,
living- of whom Joseph is now editor of the
Cresco Republican, and William, one of
Cresco's leading- and successful business men.

Pour young- Eng-lishmen, Greg-ory, Alexan-
der, Chapman and Howard Marshall, sons of
General Anthony Marshall, a disting-uished
officer of Eng-ineers in the British army,
came to Howard County m 1857, and located
in Paris township and built and occupied a
comfortable home a few miles w^est of Vernon.

78

General Anthony Marshall was born in Cam-
bridg-e, England, in 1791; educated at the
Military School at Woolwich, and at theag-eof
seventeen entered the Royal service as Sec-
ond Lieutenant of Eno-ineers. He served with
Wellintrton throug-h the Peninsular war with
Spain, and w^as later stationed in Eno-land,
Ireland, Canada and at Cape Town, South
Africa. General Marshall was much inter-
ested in our civil war and a g-reat admirer of
General Grant. HediedatPlymouth, Eng-land,
in May 1865. The sons who came to Howard
County were born, Greg-ory at St. Johns,
New Brunswick, in 1832; Alexander at Yar-
mouth Isle of Wig-ht, in 1834; Chapman at
Dublin, Ireland, in 1838; Howard at Exeter,
Eng-land, in 1840. Greg-ory after, leaving-
school, was employed in the Eng-lish war
office. Alexander went to sea at the ag-e of
seventeen, and was a sailor until he came to
Howard County. Chapman was educated at
Plymouth, went to sea when fifteen, as an
apprentice; was four years a sailor, being- sec-
ond officer of the ship when he left the sea for
life as a landsman. Howard went with his
parents to Cork, Ireland, when six months
old, and to Cape Town, South Africa, where
the family remained nearly four years, Gen-
eral Marshall being- on duty there, returning-
to Eng-land when relieved.

79

Alexander returned to Eng-land in 1865.
Greg-ory, Chapman and Howard made their
homes in Howard County for many years,
with interesting- families. All were men of
hig-h character, g-ood citizens and successful
business men.

Time and space forbid extension of this list
much as we would love to continue it. John
M. Field, Rev. P. S. Whitman, Horace Culver,
Robert Gilcrest, Nathaniel Niles, A. H.
Harris, M. B. Doolittle, and their families
were early settlers and valued neig-hbors and
friends, and w^e w^ould love to make more
detailed notice of them. Of many families no
member remains. Of some the living- mem-
bers are widelv scattered.

Chapter XI.

During- the summer of 1858 we built a very
comfortable stone house in Vernon Spring's,
which was the family home for ten years.

In the spring- of 1858 I was elected County
Superintendent of Schools for Howard Coun-
ty, and held the office for three years. There
were, at the time of my election, but three
school houses in the county, located at For-
reston, Lime Spring's and Howard Center.
The compensation, salary of the office, was
Si. 50 per day for time occupied; increased to
$2.00 the following- year, and a fee of $1.00 for
examining- teachers, on the last Saturday of
each month. As the pay of teachers was very
small I did not collect from them any exami-
nation fee. Meeting's, prayer and preaching-,
were well attended during- the winter of
1857-8, and the membership of the little
church was more than doubled by spring*.
When Brother James Watson joined in Octo-
ber 1857, he was a young- sing-le man. Him-
self, wife and three g-rown children are now
members of the church. Lime Spring's was
one of my reg-ular appointments, and in July

[80]

^J^

THE OLD HOME AT VERNON SPRINGS

■ art*

'h^'f^-'

81

1858, a church was org-anized with the follow-
ing- members:

Father Buckland and wife, Mrs. M. M.
Marsh, Jacob Beam. Father Adams, Jones
Adams and Hiram Hearns.

Howard County and vicinity was our mis-
sionary field of labor for more than thirty
years.

Beginning- in April 1861, for four long-
anxious years, the subject of absorbing- inter-
est and sleepless anxiety with all patriotic
citizens of Howard County was the war for
the Union.

The first volunteer from Howard County
for the war was my oldest son Charles, who
immediately on the President's first call for
troops for ninety days, joined a company or-
g-anizing- at Decorah in Winneshiek County,
which was mustered into the service of the
United States for three years as Company
D, Third Iowa Infantry. Details of his mili-
tary life, are g-iven in a sketch appearing-
later in this book. He was twenty years of
ag-e at the time of his enlistment.

In June 1862, my second son, James, then
in his seventeenth year, enlisted in the Six-
teenth United States Reg-ular Infantry.

An acute and serious illness impaired his

82

health to such an extent that he was dis-
harg-ed after a few months service.

In Aiitrust 1862, the Sioux Indians in Min-
nesota raided the homes and villages of set-
tlers, murdering- and mutilating- men, women
and children, and burning- and destroying-
a large amount of property.

Encouraged by and taking advantage of the
war of the Rebellion, and incited by agents of
the Confederacy, unscrupulous and possibly
unauthorized, and brooding- over real and
fancied wrong's suffered in dealing- with the
Government and its ag-ents; they took the war
path and spread terror, death and destruc-
tion through the southwestern part of the
State.

Many of their outrages occurred close to
the Southern Minnesota border, and thous-
ands of people abandoned their homes and
fled for their lives into Northern Iowa. Roads
from Minnesota were filled with terror-strick-
en fug-itives.

As the field of operation threatened to ex-
tend across the border into Iowa, and some
families in our immediate neig-hborhood were
hastily packing- a few thing's and leaving-; a
company was org-anized and mounted for home
defense, armed with such weapons, rifles and
shot guns as were available, and set out to
meet the savag-es.

83

But prompt action by Governor Ramsey
of Minnesota, and General Sible}^ with militia
and volunteers, speedily overpowered the
Indians, defeating*, capturing- and punishing
them.

About twelve hundred Sioux Indians were
engag-ed in the raid. Governor Ramsey esti-
mated the loss of life among- settlers at eight
hundred.

Five hundred Indians were captured, tried
by a Military Court, and three hundred sen-
tenced to suffer death by hanging. Of this
number thirty-eight were executed December
26, 1862.

Between twenty and thirty thousand peo-
ple had abandoned their homes, and the loss
of property was estimated from two and one-
half to three million dollars. The Howard
County company of home guards did not meet
any Indians.

My son, Charles P. Brown, was at this time
Second Sergeant of Company D, Third Regi-
ment of Iowa Infantry, and had seen more than
a year of active service in the field. Returning
to his home on a furlough, he reached Decorah
by stage from McGregor on an evening, early in
September 1862, when the panic of the Minne-
sota settlers was at its height and the town
and roads filled with refugees.

84

Meeting at Decorah a nei<^'-hbc)r, Mr. Hum-
phrey, a farmer livintr near the present site of
Cresco, in town with a team and g'oing' home
that ni^ht, my son accepted an invitation to
accompany him on his ni^ht ride home.
People were up and alert, lig-hts burning- at
every house, and the welcome of a solitary
wearer of the blue coat and brass buttons of
Uncle Sam's uniform was inspiring-.

His musket and cartridge box were far
away, but the blue uniform represented the
war power of the g-overnment, and was looked
on as the advance guard of military protection.

Prom Mr. Humphrey's home, shortly after
midnight, he walked about four miles to our
place in Vernon. The night was dark, and
knowing the excitement and apprehension
prevailing, he was on the watch for armed
pickets or patrols on the road, and had there
been any would have been in more danger
from them than from the Indians. He found
the roads clear and everything silent as the
grave. Reaching home about three o'clock in
the morning, he cautiously approached the
house, feeling that he was liable to be mis-
taken for an Indian and shot without challeng-
ing. Knocking carefully at the door to avoid
noise or excitement, and getting no re-
sponse he was about to go to the barn and find
a bed in the hay mow, when an upper window

85

was raised and a female head in a nig-ht cap,
with trembling- tones asked, '*Who is there?"
His voice, thoug-h his coming* was entirely
unexpected, was recog-nized in the reply, and
he was speedily admitted and warmly wel-
comed. I was away. His mother, aunt and
cousin Julia Brown, and his young-er broth-
ers, James, Georg-e and Will, were the occu-
pants of the house.

In 1863 my son Charles applied for an
appointment for me as Chaplain of a reg-iment
but did not succeed in g-etting- it until near the
close of the war. Early in 1865 I went to
Memphis, Tennessee, and served as Chaplain
of the Eig-hty-eig-hth U. S. C. Infantry and
later the Third U. S. C. Artillery for nearly
a year.

In May 1866, I came home from the army,
my reg-iment being- mustered out of the ser-
vice, and resumed pastoral work in Howard
County.

I was the teacher in the Vernon Spring-s
public school several terms, beg-inning- in the
fall of 1858, the last term being- that of the
winter of 1866-7.

My pupils, as I recall them now, were
Emmet and James Doolittle, Ransom and
Emory White; Adelbert, Warren, Charles and
Josiah Marsh; Joseph, William and Samuel
Kellow; Josephine, Carrie and Sarah Sawyer;

86

Mary Webster, Luella Bowers, Cora Fields,
Marv Tibbets, Catherine and Minnie Harris;
Julius Doolittle, Benton Richards, Charles
Burdick, GeorjOfe and William C. Brown.

These are all I can recall of the fifty-seven
who attended the last term. The names of
those who attended previously, as I now re-
member them, are as follows:

John, James, Abram and Elizabeth Allen;
Charles P. and James D. Brown; Sylvester,
Marg-aret, Michael, James, Daniel and Jerry
Barnes; Adelbert, William and Henry Bowers;
Georg-e H., Henry and Isaac Culver; Elmira
Clouse, Walter Doolittle, Adeline P. Fall,
Arvilla and Sylvia Fall; Ella and Alice Fields,
William Fitzg-erald, Frank and Inez Gilcrest,
Murray and John Gilcrest, Robert Gilcrest,
Silas and Abram Harris, Hattie, Charles and
Samantha Hill; John and Ella Irvin, Maria
and Mary Kellow, Fannie Moore, Louisa and
Emma Niles, Stephen and Lydia Niles, Stone
Neff, Marg-aret, William and Nettie Richards;
Albert Siddall and Eliza Sawyer.

Georg-e H. Culver enlisted with Stone Neff
in Company "D," Third Iowa Infantry.

Georg-e served faithfully and bravely and
was killed before Atlanta, Georg-ia; when
Hood assaulted Sherman's lines July 22,
1864. Stone Neff was a g-ood soldier, but was
too frail to stand the hardships of army life.

V.

87

His health failed and he was discharged for
disability early in the war.

I cannot now recall any of my scholars who
did not become w^orthy and reputable men and
women.

They w^ere all good and I loved them, and
love to recall them now\

The McGreg-or Western Railway Company
was organized January 19, 1863, and con-
struction work begun in March, and the road
completed to Monona, 14 miles, in a year. It
was extended to Postville and Centralia in
1864, to Conover in 1865 and to Cresco in 1866.

In 1867 a fifty mile gap between Cresco and
Austin was built, making a continuous line
from McGregor to St. Paul and Minneapolis,
which was operated as the Iowa and Minne-
sota Division of the Milwaukee and St. Paul

road.

My son Charles was employed by the con-
tractors, Mather & G reene, from Cresco to Aus-
tin in 1867, as time-keeper and accountant, and
in August James began work at Cresco with
the engineers who located the Iowa and Da-
kota Division west from Calmar.

In the spring of 1868 I went with Mrs.
Brown and my younger sons, George and
Willie, to Thompson, in Carroll County, Illi-
nois, where I was pastor of the York Baptist
Church for two years, returning to Iowa in

88

the sprinn- of 1870, to make a home at Lime
Si)ring-s, in Howard County.

Durinn- this summer we erected a Baptist
house of worship, and in 1871, I built a com-
fortable, pleasant home for myself and family.

My sister, Mrs. Ann B. Kelly, made her
home with us during the summer of 1871, and
a comfortable pleasant room was built espe-
cially for her in the new house, but she died
before the house was completed, and was
buried from the log- cabin built by Esq. Marsh
in 1855, in the old town of Lime Springs,
which we occupied during- the construction of
our new house.

Chapter XII.

In 1870 and 1871, at the time we made our
home at Lime Springs, my sons were em-
ployed; Charles at Ottumwa, Iowa, in the
Internal Revenue service of the Government;
James, George and Will all at work for the
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company;
James with the locatinor eno-ineers on the
Charles City Branch; Will in the trainmas-
ter's office at Minneapolis, and Georg^e a train-
man on line between McGreg-or and St. Paul;
so, save for visits from the children we occu-
pied the home alone.

With the exception of a year, from the fall
of 1875 to October 1876, in central New York,
it was our home for nearly twenty years.

I was not reg'ularly connected with any
church as pastor during- much of this time,
but was engag'ed in pastoral work at Lime
Spring's, and supplying* churches in neig^hbor-
ing* towns.

On the evening- of September 1, 1871, my
son George, who was brakeman on a passen-
g-er train between St. Paul and McGregor;
while coupling the sleeper on the train at St.
Paul Junction, was caught between the plat-

[89]

90

forms of the sleeper and rear coach, receivino-

injuries resultinjj- in his death within an hour.

His ei<J-hteenth birthday occurred on the
twenty-ninth of July preceding-. His cheery,
affectionate disposition endeared him to all,
and his sudden trag-ic death was a dreadful
shock and was loner and deeply mourned.

In the fall of 1875 Mrs. Brown and myself
went to New York and remained a year with
relatives and old friends and acquaintances in
Herkimer and Madison Counties. During-
this time I supplied the churches at Russia
and Poland in the absence of a reg-ularly in-
stalled pastor. We w^ere with my father
during- his last illness, at Madison, where he
died September 23, 1876, in his eig-hty-seventh
year, We returned to Iowa in October and
ag-ain located at Lime Spring's, where I re-
sumed pastorship of the church.

In October 1877, I was elected to represent
Howard County in the Iowa Legislature and
served one term, declining- to be a candidate
for re-election.

During- the session the following- winter I
introduced a resolution to amend the State
Constitution so as to authorize a majority of
a jury in civil cases to bring- in a verdict. It
passed the House by a larg-e majority, but was
pig-eon-holed in the Senate.

91

The followino- is a brief of my arg-ument in
support of my resolution:

"Mr. Speaker — The proposed amendment of
the Ninth Section, Article 1st, of the Constitution
makes no change in our present trial jury system
or the rules by which it is governed. It will sim-
ply remove the constitutional obstacle in the way
of some future legislature if it shall see fit in its
wisdom to authorize less than a unanimous ver-
dict. (The resolution was amended so as to con-
fine it to civil cases.)

I think the gentleman from Marion (Ex-Govern-
or Wm. M. Stone) is mistaken when he says the
rule which requires a unanimous verdict came
down from the distant ages of the past. In the
early history of the jury system the unanimity
rule governing verdicts was not known. A major-
ity of the jury was competent to deliver a verdict.
This was the rule in England for a long series of
years. The unanimity rule was the result of
gradual changes in the system. It is now a rule
peculiar to the English common law. No other
nation on the continent of Europe has ever adopt-
ed it.

I offer the following reasons why this unanimity
rule governing the verdict of juries should be
changed:

1. The rule is unreasonable. As pertinent and
emphatic proof of this proposition, we quote the
language of the learned editor of Blackstone's
Commentaries, Vol. 2, Book 2, page 375, who
says: *The unanimity of twelve men so repug-

02

nant to all experience of human conduct, passions
and understandings could hardly in any age have
been introduced into practice by a deliberate act
of the legislature.'

Hence this rule is illegitimate so far as statute
law is concerned, too absurd, too unreasonable for
any legislative body in any age to have deliberately
introduced it into practice.

It is in fact a come-by-chance, nursed by the
English Courts until, with many other absurdities
it became a part of her common law.

2. The rule is utterly inconsistent with and
subversive of the very principles which underlie
our Republican institutions.

Introduce this rule of unanimity into our elec-
tions, into Congress and all departments of its bus-
iness, into our legislative business, into our com-
mittee business, how many bills of a general
character would be reported and how many bills
of a general character would pass and become
laws? Introduce this rule into our higher courts,
what would be the result? Cases without number
never decided. We must decide matters, how-
ever weighty and whatever may be the conse-
quences, by majorities. That is the fundamental
rule of a Republican government, of all Republi-
can institutions. Discard this rule and the entire
machinery comes to a disastrous standstill.

3. Its direct and practical tendency is to pro-
tract litigation and greatly increase its expense.
The truth of this proposition is notoriously obvi-
ous; so constantly corroborated by the observa-

93

tion and experience of everyone, as to render
proof or illustration unnecessary. Cases innum-
erable have lingered in the courts for years which
might have been decided on their first hearing if
the verdict of eight or nine intelligent men had
been decisive. Finally in the end court expenses
and attorneys' fees have eaten up the judgment
obtained and impoverished both parties to the
contest.

4. The rule of unanimity puts into the hands of
one man the absolute and efficient power of de-
feating the ends of justice. It matters not wheth-
er that one man is the personification of obstina-
cy, stupidity, ignorance, or the most intelligent
person in the community. No such power can
safely be entrusted to any man. It is despotism
on the side of crime and injustice. The unanimity
rule has opened a field in which shrewd attorneys
have achieved some of their most signal victories,
not in the interest of justice and right, but in the
interest of injustice, crime and wrong. If the
attorney finds there is no merit in his client's
case, and no possible hope of obtaining a verdict
in his favor, his next object, and to compass it no
stone is left unturned, is to divide the jury. A
new trial is ordered and the same thing is repeated
and the prosecution is worried and worn out and
the guilty go free.

And then if money is to be used to defeat the
ends of justice, how much more easily one man
can be corrupted than three or four, and the cor-
ruption of one man defeats a verdict under the

94

present rule, as surely as the corruption of a half
dozen.

5. It is a coercive rule, or to use a very ex-
pressive word of American coinage, it is a bull-
dozing rule. It provides if twelve men do not
voluntarily agree on a verdict, to bulldoze them
into a verdict.

There was a time in England when the jury
consisted of more than twelve men, and a majority
verdict was the rule. It afterwards became the
rule that at least twelve of the number must agree
and if that number did not agree the jury were
reinforced or others added to it until the requisite
number twelve was obtained. The number of
jurymen was diminished from time to time until it
was cut down to twelve, and then commenced the
unanimity rule, and about this time the courts,
finding their business blocked by the frequent dis-
agreement of the jury, found it necessary to resort
to coercive measures to enforce agreement and
obtain verdicts. The jury was locked up in a
room without fire, food, drink or light and for any
length of time at the pleasure of the court. The
jury was fined if they ate anything without con-
sent of the court before finding a verdict, and if
the jury did not agree on a verdict by the time the
court adjourned and was ready to leave for an-
other part of the circuit, they were, by order of
the court, hauled around the circuit from town
to town in a cart. This same common law bull-
dozing rule, except the cart part, has been in full
force and virtue in the older states of this country,

95

and that too, within the recollection of some of the
members of the present General Assembly.

Coercion does not necessarily imply or require
physical force, but any influence which impels a
person contrary to his calm, unbiased convictions.
The barbarous means which the English courts
resorted to to enforce unanimity, such as hunger,
thirst, cold, darkness and jolting carts over rough
roads, may have been set aside, but confinement
and other potent influences, coercive in their char-
acter, design and effect, have taken their places.

But the most abhorrent feature of this coercing
a verdict is, the jury is first put under the solemni-
ties of an oath, which should shield them from all
coercive influences in their deliberations and in
reaching their conclusions.

Agreement produced by such influences does not
add strength or virtue to the verdict.

Perhaps it will be said that in the United States
nearly all the odious measures so generally resort-
ed to in former times to enforce a verdict under the
unanimity rule have been done away with. This
may be true to a very great extent while the evil
consequences of the absurd rule are in full force
to defeat the ends of justice and to render litigation
long and expensive."

So long" as our legislative bodies are made
up largely of lawyers it can scarcely be hoped
that measures looking to simplifying litigation
— expediting- and reducing cost — will meet
with favor.

06

The vear 1S77 will Ionic he rememhered as
one of serious labor troubles — and in north-
ern Iowa as the first of a series of disastrous
failures of the spring- wheat crop, which had
for years been the main dependence of our
farmers. Many of the early settlers lost
their farms, <^Mvino- up the strug-crle and ag-ain
becoming- pioneers in Dakota, Nebraska and
Kansas.

The wheat crop of that year, up to the time
the berry was in the milk, or doug-h stag-e,
was very promising-; but at this critical per-
iod, very hot weather, with frequent showers,
followed by a blazing- sun, cooked and blasted
the wheat, utterly destroying- it.

Seed and labor were lost and the brig-ht
hopes of the husbandman blig-hted in a day.

Chapter XIII.

In 1879 I built a house south of the depot in
Lime Spring's, located across the street
from my son, James D. Brown, at that time
station agfent at Lime Spring-s. This was our
last earthly home, and one of the pleasantest
we ever had. During- the following- ten
years I had no reg-ular charge, but supplied
the churches at Cresco, Fort Atkinson, and
other places, which were without pastors.

Mrs. Brown and I spent a good deal of time
visiting- our children living- in Ottumwa, Iowa,
and Beardstown, Illinois. In September,
1882, an epidemic of diphtheria broke out in
Lime Springs, and Frances, young-est daug-h-
ter of my son James, and Eddie, the only son
of my son Willie, whose family was at home
on a visit, were among- the early victims of the
dread disease.

Many children in the villag-e and vicinity
were smitten with the malady, and almost
every case w^as fatal.

It was an autumn of g-rief and sorrow for
our family.

On September 2, a daug-hter. Bertha Ade-
laide, was born to W. C. and Ella H. Brown,

[97]

08

and this bcihy ^i'irl was only about a week old
when the little boy died. On the day Bertha
was born, and in the same house, a dau^-hter
was born to Clara Lacey, a sister of Mrs.
Brown.

On June 12, 1887, in this last of our homes,
occurred the death of my beloved wife, and
we laid her beside the children and ^rand
children in the beautiful cemetery located on
the hillside where so many of the old neig-h-
bors and friends had preceded her.

The funeral sermon was preached by Rev.
J. M. Wedg-ewood. I had many years before,
discharg-ed a similar sad duty at the funeral
of his wife.

For nearly fifty years she was my constant
companion and helpmeet.

Her cheerful, sunny disposition made itself
felt through all these years, in the lonely
cabin on the frontier, or the more comfortable
home in the East. Whatever of success at-
tended my labors in the ministry, and the
success attained and positions of honor and
trust g-ained by our sons, are largely due to
the loving- care and instruction of the sainted
wife and mother.

For a few^ years after her death I remained
at the home in Lime Spring's, keeping- every-
thing so far as possible as it was left by her
loving hands.

99

Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Hewitt, old neig-hbors
and kind friends, occupied the house with me.
Their daughter, Ella, was the wife of my son,
W. C. Brown.

While it was my home, containing* many
thing's recalling- happy days of the past, ^one
never to return, much of my time was spent
visiting- relatives and friends.

With advancing- years, the rig-or of our nor-
thern Iowa winters, felt more than in young--
er days, led me to make my home with my
children living farther south.

I write these recollections in 1893, at the
home of my son, W. C. Brown, at St. Joseph,
Missouri, where I have been for a larg-e part
of the time during* the last three years-

My sons and their families have been very
kind and considerate, and done much to com-
fort and cheer me in my old ag-e and loneliness.
I praise God for His g-oodness in sparing- my
life, and g-ranting- me the unspeakable joy of
attending- six semi-centennial Jubilee Ser-
vices, namely:

The fiftieth anniversaries:

Of the Baptist Church at Davenport, of
which I was one of the first pastors.

Of the Baptist Church at Danville, Iowa.

Of the Maquoketa Church, the first one or-
g-anized by me west of the Mississippi river.

100

Of the Davenport Association, which I as-
sisted in ort^'-anizing-.

Of the Baptist Church in Cordova, Illinois.

Of the Des Moines Baptist Association, the
first west of the Mississippi and north of
Missouri.

When I recall the many who were fellow
laborers with me in the precious work a half
century ag-o, and realize how few remain, my
heart is filled wnth g-ratitude to God for His
^reat merc}^ to me.

I also realize, with cheerful confidence and
faith in His loving- kindness, which has fol-
lowed me all the days of my life, that the hour
of my departure cannot be far away.

That God will bless and in infinite love and
tenderness overshadow and keep the beloved
Churches with which I have been connected,
and all the Israel of God, is my earnest daily
prayer.

At the request of my children I insert some
papers, political and historical, which they
deem of interest and worthy of preservation.

These "recollections" as an autobiog-raphy
closed in the fall of 1893, and later events are
g-iven by a son.

Father made his home principally with my
brother, W. C. Brown, at St. Joseph, Mo.,
until January 1, 1896, and then in Chicag-o,
where he was cared for w4th loving- kindness.

101

In the fall of 1898 he came to Ottumwa to
make his home with Benjamin P. Brown, his
grandson, and remained until his death. Ben
and his wife, Laura Kendall, were very pleas-
ant young- people; kind, thoug-htful and con-
siderate, and their little daug-hter. Prances,
was a favorite with father.

Everything- possible was done for his com-
fort and convenience, and he was as contented
and happy as anyone could be under similar
conditions.

Nothing- could make g-ood the loss of his
loved and life-long companion, and he never
ceased to miss and mourn her.

Early in the year 1900 my brother, W. C.
Brown, boug-ht a handsome, well located resi-
dence in Ottumwa, expressly for father's use,
and it was occupied by Ben and his family for
a home for father.

For more than a year preceding- his death, a
capable attendant was employed, g-iving- his
entire time to caring- for father and adminis-
tering- to his wants.

He was a remarkably active man for his
age, and retained full possession of his fac-
ulties to the day of his death.

DEATH.

Rev. Charles E. Brown died in Ottumwa,
Iowa, at the residence of his g-randson, Ben-

102

jainin P. Brown, on Tuesday, July 23, 1^)01,
in his eig-hty-ninth year, from old ag-e.

His obituary contained the following" notice:

"Mr. Brown was a man of more than ordi-
nary ability, and began his active life work
with a much better education than theaverag-e
young man of his time.

"His choice of a vocation came from a pro-
found sense of duty, and he was a faithful,
zealous and devoted worker in his calling-
until past sixty years of ag-e. In choosing-
fields of labor he sought those among- pioneers
in the far West: plain, earnest people in the
humbler walks of life, and the question of
compensation was hardly considered.

"Had he been ambitious he would have at-
tained high rank in the ministry.

"Sincere, earnest, unselfish and self-sacri-
ficing, he was not worldly minded.

"Clear and decided in his views on all ques-
tions of public interest he held and advocated
them fearlessly.

"His ideas of life were serious; but under a
sober, thoughtful manner, he had a warm,
g-enerous heart, and was ever ready with
kindly sympathy and assistance for those in
trouble or affliction.

"Death came in his eighty-ninth year, from
a g-radual failing of his vital powders, and the
end was peaceful and painless."

MONUMENT IN CEMETERY AT LIME SPRINGS. IOWA.

103

His remains were laid in the cemetery at
Lime Spring's, Iowa, by the side of those of
his loved companion, who had g-one before to
a better land.

FrcDices Lyon was born April 15, 1813, at
Oppenheim, in Pulton county, New York, the
sixth dauofhter of Doctor Benjamin Lyon and
Margaret Duncan, his wife.

On July 5, 1820, her mother died, and on
May 26, 1822, her father married again, and
died October 24, 1826.

Doctor Benjamin Lyon was a practicing-
physician; educated, capable and skillful in
his profession; of high character as a man;
leading and influential; loved and respected
by neighbors and friends.

Margaret Duncan, his wife, was a daug-hter
of John Duncan, a Scotchman of means and
prominence, who came to New York at an
early day and located near Schenectady, es-
tablishing- a home, whose broad acres were
known as the ''Hermitag-e. "

Panny Lyon's home after her parents'
death was for some years before her mar-
riag-e, at Little Palls, Herkimer county. New
York, with an older sister, Julia, wife of
Stephen W. Brown, a leading-, influential and
well to do merchant.

104

Here, h.'Liulsoine, educated, accomplished
and winnintf, she was prominent in the ^ay
social life of a charmintr circle of bri^rht youn^
people. It was an ideal home.

Mrs. Stephen W. Brown w^as an exception-
ally cajKible, gifted and accomplished woman,
and a brilliant social leader.

Her husband was a g-entleman of the high-
est character, popular in business and poli-
tics, g-enial, g-enerous and hospitable, with a
noble face and commanding- presence, larg-ely
interested in trade and manufactures, and for
a time ''Ilig-Ji Sherijf of Herkimer county.

At Little Falls, in the spring- of 1838, oc-
curred a revival of relig-ion that attracted
widespread interest The meeting-s w^ere
conducted by Rev. Phillip Perry Brown, an
able, earnest and zealous Baptist minister.

Georg-e D. Lyon, a successful young- mer-
chant of Little Falls, unmarried and making-
his home with his sisters, Mrs. Stephen W.
Brown and Fanny Lyon, was a member of the
Baptist church, and with his sister Fanny,
attended the meeting-s.

Charles Edwin Brown, a son of the presid-
ing- minister, a theological student just from
the university at Hamilton, young-, zealous,
able and enthusiastic in his chosen calling- of
the ministry, was present assisting- his father
In carrying- on the work. He became a g-ue?t

105

of Stephen W. Brown's family during- the
meeting-, and was cordially received and en-
tertained.

Fanny Lyon was an interested attendant of
the revival services, and became a convert.

The acquaintance of the young- people thus
thrown tog-ether, ripened into love, and g-iving-
up a brig-ht and promising- future in a worldly
way, she became, September 26, 1838, the wife
of a minister, possessed of nothing- but
health, a g-ood education, ability of a hig-h
order, and zeal and sincerity in his calling-.
Possibly the extent of the sacrifice was not
fully realized. It was a life of toil, trial and
self-denying- economy, doing- larg-ely for
others, and looking- to the future for its re-
ward and compensation. But it was in the
line of duty, and its faithful performance
broug-ht an approving- conscience. She dis-
charg-ed all its duties loyally and well; bore
her share of its burdens, and contributed
fully to its joys.

She was a consistent Christian, a devoted,
loving- wife and mother, and a model home-
maker; always cheerful and hopeful.

Death came at the home in Lime Spring-s,
Iowa, June 12, 1887, after a long- illness, borne
with Christian patience, faith and fortitude.

The children of Rev. Charles E. and Fran-
ces Lyon Brown were:

106

J)r)i/(if}ii)i Perry JiroivJi, l)orn in the Baptist
parsonag-e at Norway, Herkimer county, New
York, July 30, 1830, and was drowned at
Brown's ford in the Ma([uoketa river, near
Maquoketa, Iowa, on the afternoon of June 20,
1848, when nearly nine years of a«-e.

He was in many lovable ways a remarkable
little fellow, ])ritrht and playful, but thoutrht-
ful and considerate, conscientious and of a de-
votional turn of mind, unusual for a child.
He won and held the warmest love of his par-
ents. A most promising- life was cut short
by his untimely death.

His loss was a crushing- blow to his parents,
and his mother never ceased to mourn him to
the end of her long- life.

Sketch of Charles Perry Brozvn, published
in a ^'Biog-raphical History of Wapello Coun-
ty," at Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1901.

"Captain Charles P. Brown was born near
Little Palls, Herkimer county, New York,
October 30, 1840, the son of Rev. Charles E.
and Prances Lyon-Brown.

"His father was a Baptist minister, a g-rad-
uate of Madison University, who came to Iowa
in May, 1842, as a Missionary by appointment
from the American Baptist Home Mission
Society, locating- first at Maquoketa, Jackson
county, and the following- fall at Davenport.
After nine years of arduous and successful

107

labor in his calling-, failing- health necessitated
his return to New York in May, 1851, where
he spent six years in central and western
counties, returning to Iowa in July, 1857, to
make a home, in Howard county.

"Captain Brown's mother, a noble Christ-
ian woman, and a devoted, loving- wife and
mother, was a daughter of Doctor Benjamin
Lyon, of Herkimer county. New York, whose
wife, Mrs. Brown's mother, was Margaret
Duncan, daughter of John Duncan, a promi-
nent Scotchman, who left his native land on
account of political disturbances, and settled
near Schenectady, New York, at an early day.
*-The subject of this sketch was educated
in the common schools of New York and Iowa,
and was a teacher in country district schools
in northern Iowa during the winter terms of
1859, 1860 and 1861. He was the first volun-
teer from Howard county for the Civil war,
enlisting- about April 20, 1861, in the Decorah
Guards, a Winneshiek county company, which
was mustered into the service of the United
States as Company D, Third reg-iment, Iowa
Volunteer Infantry, at Keokuk, Iowa. The
First, Second and Third reg-iments of Iowa
Infantry were organized at Keokuk about the
same time, all being there together before
any left for the field.

"At the organization of his company, Mr.

108

Brown was elected third corporal, and in
March, 18()2, was promoted to second ser-
g-eant. He was made first lieutenant of artil-
lery in May, 18()3, and in September, 1864,
was appointed captain and assistant adjutant
o-eneral of volunteers by President Lincoln,
holdintr that position until discharged in Dec-
ember, 1865. He served continuously from
April 25, 1861, until December 31, 1865, four
years and ei^ht months, when he was honor-
ably discharofed by order of the War Depart-
ment, for the reason that his services were
no long-er required. He was on staff duty
about four years, as regimental and brig-ade
quartermaster, aide-de-camp, and assistant
adjutant g-eneral, serving- more than a year
with Major General Stephen A. Hurlbut, who
commanded the Fourth Division, Army of the
Tennessee, at Pittsburg* Landing-, Shiloh and
Corinth, and later the Sixteenth Army Corps,
and the Department of the Gulf. He was in
every battle and campaign in which his com-
mand was eng-ag-ed.

"After leaving- the army. Captain Brown re-
turned to his home in Vernon Spring's, How-
ard county, Iowa; and was married Aug-ust 30,
1866, to Adeline Fall, daug-hter of Rev. Georg-e
W. Fall, of Howard county. He came to Ot-
tumwa, March 1, 1871, as clerk in the office of
General John M. Hedrick, supervisor of

109

United States internal revenue for a district
comprising- eig^ht northwestern states and ter-
ritories, and was soon after appointed United
States Internal Revenue Ag-ent on the recom-
mendation of General liedrick, and served in
that capacity until October, 1881, resig-ning-
on account of failing- health. The Ottumwa
National Bank was then org-anizing- and Cap-
tain Brown was oifered and accepted the posi-
tion of cashier. In Aug-ust, 1883, he left the
bank to become auditor of the coal mining-,
railroad and supply companies owned and op-
erated by J. C. Osg-ood. This work proving-
too arduous, was g-iven up in July, 1884, and
for three years he w'as out of business. In
the fall of 1887 Mr. Brown org-anized the Ot-
tumwa Saving-s Bank, and was its president
until Aug-ust, 1895, when the condition of his
health obliged him to g-ive up all business for
a time.

'*Mr. and Mrs. Brown have two children liv-
ing-: Benjamin P., born at McGreg-or, Iowa,
December 11, 1869, and Louise P. born at Ot-
tumw^a, Iowa, January 28, 1881, both of whom
w^ere educated in the public schools of Ot-
tumwa. Benjamin P. went into the retail
hardware store of the Harper and Mclntire
Company; then Harper, Chambers and Com-
pany, in May, 1886, to learn the business. In
September, 1888, he began work in the Ot-

no

tumwa Savini^s Bank; was made assistant
cashier in 18*)1, and cashier in August, 1895.
He is a popular, capable and successful bank-
er."

JiiDics DcGrush Dnnvii was born in Le-
Claire township, Scott county, Iowa, Feb-
ruary 9, 1846, in a brick house on the prairie,
a few miles west of the Mississippi river and
the village of LeClaire.

The country was new and thinly settled,
the nearest neio-hbor being- one-half mile to
the south. North, east and west was the
boundless prairie, without human habitation
in sio-ht. Wolves howledaround thehouseand
came almost to our door nearly every nig-ht.
Prairie chickens were plentiful; larg-e flocks
used to g*ather, and the males strut about and
sound their booming- notes in plain sig-ht of,
and near the house, and a fat young- hen for a
meal was almost as handy to g-et as a fowl
from a domestic barn yard. Indians were oc-
casional visitors.

James was a dutiful, obedient boy, of cor-
rect and studious habits, a ready learner, and
a great reader of books, with a g-ood
memory. Considering- his limited opportu-
nities, his education w^as better than that of
any of his brothers.

He was a school teacher in country districts
in north Iowa a few terms; and in 1867 beg-an

FRANK LOGAN BROWN,

Ill

work for the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway
Company with the locating- eng-ineers on the
Iowa and Dakota Dixision. Later he was op-
erator at various stations on the Iowa and
Minnesota Division, and ag-ent at Lime
Spring's for about fifteen years.

He came to the "Burling-ton" road Febru-
ary 1, 1889, as ag-ent at Fairfield, and to Ot-
tumwa April 1, 1890.

June 1, 1903, he became traveling- freig-ht
ag-ent for the Indiana, Iowa and Illinois Rail-
way Company; and in the fall of 1905, g-eneral
ag-ent at St. Joseph, Missouri, for the New
York Central lines.

James was always a capable, trusty and
faithful worker in all the positions he held.

In 1862, he enlisted in the Sixteenth United
States Reg-ular Infantry, when but sixteen
years of ag-e. An acute and serious illness,
unfitting- him for service, caused his discharg-e
for disability a few^ months later; to his very
great disappointment and reg-ret.

Georg-e Lyon Brozv7i was born in the Bap-
tist parsonag-e at Norway, Herkimer county.
New York, July 29, 1853. The family home
was located at Vernon Spring-s, Howard coun-
ty, Iowa, in July 1857.

Georg-e was an active, wide awake, enter-
prising- boy, loving-, considerate and helpful to
his mother; of a cheerful, kindly and oblig-ing-

112

disposition, seldom at variance with his play-
mates.

His first work away from home was as a
trainman on the Chicag^o, Milwaukee and St.
Paul, between McGrej^-or and Minneapolis, as
brakeman on a frei<ifht, and later on a passen-
g-er train, beg-in nino- in 1870. He was in-
dustrious and trusty, interested and ambi-
tious, readily g-aini no- the g-ood will, confidence
and respect of his employers, and success
and promotion in his life w^ork was a reason-
able expectation.

On the evening- of September 1, 1871, while
coupling- the sleeping- car "Minnesota" on the
train at St. Paul Junction, he was caught be-
tw^een the platforms of the sleeper and the
rear coach, number seventy-seven, receiv-
ing- injuries resultinor in his death within an
hour.

The railway company's report of the acci-
dent, says:

"Georg-e L. Brown, brakeman, killed on the
evening- of September 1, 1871, at about 7:27.
Train No. 4, W. M. Bryant, conductor, Eng-ine
No. 41, B. H. Lewis, eng-ineer, arrived at St.
Paul Junction, when in making- the coupling-
between Coach No. 77, and the sleeping- car
"Minnesota," he was caug-ht between the
coaches. We helped him on the platform, and
put him on train No. 25 for Minneapolis. He

REV. GEO. W. FALL.

MISS ADELINE P. FALL, AUG. 1866.
MRS. CHAS. P. BROWN. 1871. CHAS. P, BROWN, 1863.

LOUISE EDITH

FRANCES BEN

CHILDREN OF MR. AND MRS. CHAS. P. BROWN

JAMES D. BROWN.

MRS. JAMES D. BROWN.

GEORGE E. BROWN AND WIFE.

MISS VINNIE FRANCES BROWN

Il

■

r

^H

■b>,

^H

^^^^ll«

^4

Ml

VINNIE F. BROWN. GEORGE E. BROWN.

FRANCES MARGARET BROWN. FRANK LOGAN BROWN.

CHILDREN OF JAMES D. AND ELLA F. BROWN,

VINNIE FRANK GEORGE

CHILDREN OF MR. AND MRS. JAMES D. BROWN

C. C. HEWITT

MRS. C. C. HEWITT

WILLIAM C. BROWN

MRS. WILLIAM C. BROWN

MISS MARGARET HEDDENS BROWN

MARGARET BROWN

MARGARET AND BERTHA BROWN

DR. FRANK E. PIERCE

MRS. FRANK E. PIERCE

V

BERTHA BROWN.

DR. KELLOGG SPEED

MRS. KELLOGG SPEED.

MARGARET

BERTHA GEORGIA

CHILDREN OF MR. AND MRS. W. C. BROWN

MISS BERTHA BROWN SPEED

JOHN HENRY PIERCE.

BERTHA BROWN MRS. F. E. PIERCE

WILLIAM BROWN PIERCE

MRS. BERTHA BROWN SPEED
AND DAUGHTER

113

died on train 25, in coach No. 24, about fifteen
minutes after the accident occurred.

The coaches were backed up once and he
didn't make the couplinof, and sig-naled the
eng-ineer to g-o ahead and back up ag-ain.

When the coaches came tog-ether, the draft
irons slipped by, and caug-ht him between the
platforms. He had made the same coupling-
repeatedly, and thoug-ht he could do it then."

This extract is from the report of Con-
ductor Bryant to the company.

Georg-e made friends of all with whom he
was associated, and his trag-ic and untimely
death was a dreadful shock, and was long- and
deeply mourned by his family and friends.

William Carlos Brown, (and his twin broth-
er Georg-e L.) was born at the Baptist parson-
ag-e in the little town of Norway, in Herkimer
county, New York, on the 2^Hh day of July,
1853, on the southern border of the Great
North Woods, the Adirondack Wilderness.

For the ensuing- four years the parental
home was in central and western New York;
in Norw^ay, until September, 1854; then in
Penner, Madison county, until May, 1856; then
in Gaines and Murray, Orleans county, until
July, 1857, when it was removed to Iowa and
established at Vernon Spring-s. in Howard
county.

114

vVside fioiii home instruction, his education
was acijuired in common schools.

The l)Ovs were inse])arable com])anions,
never havintr any serious differences or mis-
understandino;s. They were more active, en-
terprisintr and mischievous than the averag^e
l^ovs, and at the same time, dutiful, obedient
and helpful about home, and affectionate and
considerate to their mother.

Will was especially devoted to his mother,
and had a way of demon strati no- his affection,
always dear to a mother's heart, that won her
warmest love.

She was very proud of her twin boys, and
devotedly attached to them; and they were
exceptionally bri<^-ht and interesting- little
fellow^s.

As soon as they were able to be useful, they
cheerfully bore their share of the burden of a
home, where means w^ere limited, and a mod-
est living- had to be secured by industry and
economy; and were always ready to add to the
family comfort and income by earning- some-
thing- whenever an opportunity presented.

W. C. Brown's railroad life and work beg-an
in the little town of Thompson, Illinois, where,
in 1868 and 18()9, he was employed wooding-
eng-ines; and later on the section on the old
Western Union, now^ a part of the Chicag-o,
Milwaukee and St. Paul system.

115

During" the time in this employment, he de-
voted his evenings to learning- telegraphy, and
in the spring- of 1870, became operator at
Charles City, on the Iowa and Dakota Division
of the Milwaukee and St. Paul road; was oper-
ator at various stations on the line in Iowa
and Minnesota, until the spring- of 1871, when
he w^as made nig-ht operator in the Train Dis-
patcher's office at Minneapolis.

In June, 1872, he went to the Iowa Division
of the Illinois Central road as train dispatcher
at Waterloo; and in March, 1875, to Wilton
Junction as dispatcher for the Chicag-o, Rock
Island and Pacific Railway until July 1, 1876,
when he accepted a similar position on the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad at
Ottumwa.

For twenty-five years, from July 1, 1876,^
until June 30, 1901, he was connected with the
"Burlington."

He reported for duty at Ottumwa, Iowa, go-
ingf to Burlington in a fortnig-ht; was dis-
patcher at Burling-ton from July, 1876, until
January 1, 1880.

Chief Dispatcher, St. Louis Division, at
Beardstown, Illinois, January 1, 1880, to Jan-
uary, 1881.

Trainmaster, St. Louis Division, at Beards-
town, January, 1881 to July, 1884.

Assistant Superintendent, St. Louis Divi-

IH)

sion, at BL'.'irdstown, July, 18S4, to January
1, 1887.

Superintendent, Iowa lines, at Burlin^^ton,
January 1, 1887, to Auo-ust, 1890.

General Manag-er of the Missouri lines of
the Burlington System, Aug-ust, 1890, to Jan-
uary 1, 189G, with headquarters at St. Joseph,
Missouri.

General Manao-er, Chica^fo, Burlin^fton and
Quincy Railroad, at Chica.o-o, January 1, 1896,
to June 30, 1901.

His connection with the New York Central
beo-an July 1, 1901; when he went to Cleveland,
as vice president and g-eneral manag-er of the
Lake Shore and Michig-an Southern, and Lake
Erie and Western Railways.

In February, 1902, he w^as made vice presi-
dent of the New York Central and Hudson
River Railroad. In February, 1905, oper-
ating- vice president: and on June 1, 1906, sen-
ior vice president of the New York Central
Lines, comprising-.

The New York Central and Hudson River,
Lake Shore and Michig-an Southern,
Michig-an Central,
West Shore,

Lake Erie and Western,
New York and Ottawa,

Indiana, Illinois and Iowa,
Rutland,

117

Cleveland, Chicag-o, Cincinnati and St. Louis,
Lake Erie, Alliance and Wheeling-, and
The Chicag-o, Indiana and Southern.
About twelve thousand miles of the finest
and most important railway system on earth.
The Ottumwa Courier, referring- to his pro-
motion to the position of g-eneral manag-er of
the Burling-ton, said:

"There are a few especial reasons for Gen-
eral Manag-er Brown's success. He took what-
ever duties were assig-ned to him, and g-ave
Ihem his very best effort. He never scorned
any task, however humble, the drudgery of
which would have caused other men to resig-n.
"His methods have always been clean and
honest, and his treatment of the public and
subordinates, has been based on exactly the
same candor and courtesy accorded to his su-
periors in rank. The story of his life reads
like a romance, and in it there is the g-reatest
incentive to youth for hard work, intellig-ent
effort and clean methods in whatever they
undertake."

Referring- to his appointment as vice presi-
dent of the New York Central and Hudson
River road in February, 1902; the New York
World, in a first pag-e article, said:

"Anew railroad wizard, takes place of g-reat
power and prominence here.

"A radical chancre in the manag-ement of the

118

New York Central was made yesterday, by
the election of William C. Brown, now vice
president of the Lake Shore, as vice presi-
dent of the Central, with new duties on a
larg-er scale, than any New York Central Rail-
road official has ever yet assumed.

"Mr. Brown becomes the active directing-
and responsible head of the combined trans-
portation, eng-ineerin^, equipment, and me-
chanical departments of the road.

''His position will be of more individual im-
portance and responsibility, than any that has
yet existed on any g-reat railroad system.

"Mr. Brown, who now becomes one of the
foremost men in the eastern railway field, has
worked his way up from the very bottom.

"He will retain the vice presidency of the
Lake Shore, and Lake Erie and Western."

With executive and administrative ability
of the highest order; he combines untiring- in-
dustry, patience and g-ood nature that nothing-
can ruffle or disturb; unswerving- fidelity to
his duties, and the rare and priceless faculty
of g-aining- and keeping- the g-ood will of pat-
rons; and the love, respect and loyal support
of employes and subordinates of the roads.

Modest, unassuming-, g-enial and approach-
able, with no pride of position or power, he is
a remarkable man of a marvelous ag-e.

Roads under his management are notably

119

free from accidents and labor troubles.

Mr. Brown is domestic in his tastes, and
his home life is ideal.

He was married at Lime Spring-s, Howard
county, Iowa, June 3, 1874; to Miss Mary Ella
Hewitt, daug-hter of C. C. and Mary Chees-
boro Hewitt. Mr. Hewitt was a hardware
merchant, a hig-hly respected, successful bus-
iness man. It is no flattery to say that Miss
Hewitt was the belle and beauty of the little
town, and that she is a model wife, mother
and home-maker.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown have three daug-hters,
of w^hom any parents may be proud. Two
are married and have handsome homes near
their parents.

Georg"ia, the eldest; refined, educated and
accomplished, is the wife of Dr. Prank Ellis
Pierce, a rising- young* physician, and a very
pleasant g-entleman, son of Hon. John H.
Pierce, of Kewanee, Illinois; a leading- manu-
facturer and prominent in public affairs of
the state.

Bertha, a charming- little woman; fair-faced,
brig-ht-eyed, lovable and winning, is the wife
of Dr. Kellog-g- Speed; just entering- upon a
promising- career in his profession.

Marg'aret, the young-est, at home; trim,
compact, g-raceful and vivacious; a very brig-ht
little miss of sixteen, is a fine equestrian.

120

and the comrade, companion and pride of her
father.

He has a ho)ish love for all ^ood kinds of
fun, appreciates and enjoys a joke, and knows
how to make one; likes a farm, and fine stock,
horses and cattle, of which he is a judg-e and
always has a goodly number.

At home and off duty he is a generous host,
a welcome t^-uest, a g^enial companion, and the
center of a fascinating* circle of friends.

Since his appointment as senior vice pres-
ident of the New York Central lines, his head-
quarters, office and home are located in New^
York City.

CHAPTER XIV

AN ADDRESS

DELIVERED JULY 4, 1845, AT LE CLAIR, SCOTT
COUNTY, TERRITORY OF IOWA.

"The document which has just been read in
our hearing- is called 'The Declaration of In-
dependence.' The committee appointed by
the Continental Congress assembled in Inde-
pendence Hall, in the city of Philadelphia, to
draw up that declaration, consisted of Thomas
Jefferson, of Virginia; John Adams, of Massa-
chusetts; Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylva-
nia; Roger Sherman, of Connecticut; and Rob-
ert R. Livingston, of New York. Jefferson
was the author. The vote was taken on its
adoption July 4, 1776, at about mid-day; a time
of intense solemnity and interest. The decla-
ration was read at the head of each brigade of
the army; it was read from the pulpit; it was
read in leg-islative halls, and at the corners of

[121]

122

the streets, and ev^erywhere met with a warm
response from the American people.

In that noblest of all state papers ever
issued from a le^^islative body, is this memor-
able lang^uagfe, developing* principles most no-
ble and o-lorious, cherished with the warm-
est and most ardent affection by every
true American heart. Principles upon which
the superstructure of our g'overnment was
reared and upon which it still rests, viz: "We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal; that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable
rig"hts; that among" these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these
rig"hts g-overnments are instituted among- men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed." A similar sentiment was ex-
pressed many centuries before the Declara-
tion of Independence came into being-, and
comes to us under the sanction of Divine reve-
lation in these words, "He hath made of one
blood all nations of men to dwell on all the
face of the earth."

The Bible and the Declaration of Independ-
ence, know no royal blood, no ordinate and
subordinate conditions of men as they come
from the hand^of their Creator. One declares
that "of one blood all men were made," the
other that "all men are created equal and en-

123

dowed by the Creator with certain inalien-
able rig-hts, among- which is that of liberty."

In the first place let us g-lance briefly at the
nature of personal liberty.

Very incorrect and absurd notions are en-
tertained in reference to personal liberty,
some supposing- it to consist in every person
doing- what he pleases without reg-ard for
the rig-hts, interests and happiness of others;
without reg-ard for society. While others
think that personal liberty is sufficiently ample
if their fellow men have the liberty to think
only as they think, and to do what they choose
to have them do. Both of these views are rad-
ically wrong- and equally destructive of every
principal of true personal liberty.

"Every human being-," says a philosopher
of our own country, **is by his constitution a
separate distinct and complete system,
adapted to all the purposes of self government
and responsible to God for the manner in
which his powers are employed."

Every person has a perfect rig-ht, so far as
his fellow men are concerned, to use his lib-
erty as he pleases; provided, always, he does
not use it to the injury of his neig-hbors; he
may g-o where he pleases and when he pleases
and come when he will; he may work, play or
be idle, just as suits him best. If he sur-

124

renders anv of his personal ri<»"hts it must he
with his uncoerced consent.

As, for instance, in the formation and whole-
some provisions of society, the members
mutually and on the' principles of reciprocity
surrender some of their personal rig-hts to
society which is essential to its very exist-
ence. 1. The person transfers to society
the ri^^ht of self-protection. 2. He trans-
fers the riu'ht to redress his wrono-s or in-
juries.

On the other hand, society eng-ag-es to pro-
tect him in the innocent enjoyment of his
rig-hts and redress his wrong's. Hence rt
is wrong- for a person or persons to take re-
dress into their own hands. Should such a
course be g'enerally adopted society would
soon come to an end. If, for any cause, so-
ciety fails to perform its part of the contract,
it is the duty and privileg^e of the person to
fall back on his origfinal rig-hts and protect
himself and redress his own wrong-s. Such
cases have occurred in this w^estern country,
where horse thieves, counterfeiters and rob-
bers have leag'ued tog-ether for protection in
their intolerable depredations, so that the
ends of law and justice were constantly and
effectually defied. Under such circumstan-
ces it is rig-ht for the outrag-ed neig-hbors
to do as they sometimes have done — take re-

125

dress into their own hands; not, however, un-
til they have found by actual trial, that the
laws cannot, or will not, protect them.

Personal liberty may be violated: 1. In
cases where one person assumes control of
the actions, physical and intellectual, of an-
other. This point is so clear as to need no
illustration. 2. Society may violate personal
liberty by imprisonment, or by reducing- to
vassalage, where no crime has been commit-
ted; or where crime has been committed,
by inflicting- punishment without giving the
accused a fair trial; or by passing laws dis-
franchising a person or persons; or placing
them under civil or political disabilities; or
by restricting or coercing their religious faith
and forms of worship.

Each and every person, so far as his fellow
men are concerned, has a perfect right to be-
lieve what he has a mind to; to w^orship what,
and in w^hat form he is disposed to; provided,
he leaves the same right to others unimpaired,
and none must molest or make him afraid.
To connect church with state, or establish a
specified form of religion by law is a gross
and palpable violation of the most sacred
rights of men and should be sternly and per-
sistently resisted.

To secure these rights the Declaration tells
us governments are instituted among men,

12(.

dcriviiij^- tlu'ir just ])()\VL'rs from the consent
of the <roverned; whenever a form of jrovern-
ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the rio-ht of the people to alter or abolish it
and to institute a new g-overnment, laying its
foundation on such principles and or^anizin^
its ]iower in such forms as to them shall seem
most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

These, we repeat, are the g-lorious prin-
ciples upon which the constitution of our g-ov-
ernment was formed. Our law^ makers are
the servants of the people; agents appointed
by the people. The executive is the servant
of the people. He occupies the executive
chair because the people put him there. If
they think best, he is left out and another is
elected to fill his place. The people are the
sovereigns of the land.

In no country are the principles of liberty
so well understood, so well defined, so amply
enjoyed as in our own highly favored republic.
And it devolves upon us, fellow citizens, to
maintain and guard most scrupulously these
principles and transmit them, to cheer and
bless those who shall occupy our places in
generations yet to come.

Let us now turn our attention to the begin-
ning, the gradual development and consum-
mation of those principles of liberty we now
enjoy. There was first the dawning, then the

127

twilig-ht then the meridian blaze of a g^lorious
day. Great principles, either of physics or
morals, political economy or human rig-hts
and human liberty are not developed and
broug-ht to perfection at once, but are the
work of time. Old and venerated forms, cus-
toms and institutions must be removed; long*
standing- and deep rooted prejudices must be
overcome; new and startling- ideas and princi-
ples introduced.

When Patrick Henry made his impassioned
appeal in behalf of American freedom before
the House of Burg-esses of Virg-inia, in which
occurs that immortal exclamation, '*Give me
liberty or give me death," the eloquent speech
was g-reeted with cries of "Treason" from
different parts of the hall.

The resolution offered in the Continental
Cong-ress, "That these united colonies are,
and of rig-ht oug-ht to be free and independent
states; that they are absolved from all alleg--
iance to the British crown," etc., was treason.

Before America w-as discovered, the idea
that the people had some rig-hts beg-an to be
entertained. It was the violation of these im-
perfectly conceived rig-hts, the intolerable op-
pression, political and relig-ious, that drove
the first settlers of America from their homes
in the Old World, from friends and every en-
deared association, to find a resting- place, an

128

asvliini of the perseciiti'd and oppressed in a
far off wilderness country, inhabitated by
beasts of prey and sava<re tribes; where they
were exposed to hardships and sufferings of
the most appallinj^*- character, for which, how-
ever, they felt themselves amply compensated
by the sweets of liberty enjoyed in their new
homes.

The following- indig-nant reply of Colonel
Barre to Charles Townsend in the British
Parliament in the days of the American Rev-
olution, contains the truth. Referring- to the
American colonies, he says, "Children planted
by your care!" "No, your oppression planted
them in America; they fled from your tyranny
into a then uncultivated land, where they were
exposed to all the hardships to which human
nature is liable, and among- others, to the cru-
elties of a savag-e foe. And yet, actuated by
principles of true Eng-lish liberty, they met
all these hardships with pleasure." The
principles of liberty were broug-ht by the
Pilg-rims to the New World, in an imper-
fectly conceived, crude and unformed state.

Monarchy had no motive to emig-rate to the
wilds of America; priestcraft did not come;
they were present only in shadow. By the
steadfast attractions of interest, monarchy
and priestcraft were retained in the Old
World. To the forests of America came a

129

free people; to the forests of America relig-ion
came as a companion to cheer and comfort in
the midst of trials and snfFerino-s. It is true
the principles of liberty were but imperfectly
developed and understood by the Pilgrim
fathers. Their views of religious liberty
were less correct than those of civil liberty.
They supposed the people ought to be com-
pelled to go to meeting by civil law; that the
institutions of the Gospel should be supported
by a legalized tax upon the people, and that
this tax should go to support a particular
church and denomination, and that orthodoxy
should be looked after and protected by the
civil magistrates and heresy severly punished
by the officers of justice.

It was for opposing these relics of tyranny
and oppression that Roger Williams was ban-
ished from the colony of Massachusetts in the
dead of a New England winter. For fourteen
weeks he was sorely tossed in a bitter season,
not knowing what bed or bread did mean.
Often in a stormy night he had neither fire,
food or company; often he wandered without a
guide and had no shelter but a hollow tree.
But he was not without friends The same
scrupulous respect for the rights of others,
which led him to defend the freedom of con-
science, made him the friend and champion
of the Indians, and thus secured their most

130

cordial attachment. Williams had often been
the welcome ^uest of the neitj;-hborincr chiefs
before his exile; and now when he came, in
winter, a lone wanderer from oppression, to
the cabin of the chief of Pokanoket he was
welcomed by Massasoit, and the barbarous
heart of Canonicus, the chief of the Narra-
g-ansetts, loved him, as expressed in the lan-
g-uaofe of the times, "as his son to the last
g-asp."

The place where he finally fixed his habita-
tion to express his o-ratitude for, and his con-
fidence in the protection and mercies of God,
he called Providence. "I desire," said he,
"it mig-ht be for a shelter for persons dis-
tressed for conscience."

No one, said Williams, should be compelled
to w^orship, or maintain a worship a,«-ainst his
own consent.

"What!" exclaimed his antag-onist, amazed
at his strang-e tenents, "Is not the laborer
worthy of his hire?" "Yes, from them that
hire him. "

Williams asserted that the magistrates are
but the agents of the people, or their trustees
on whom no spiritual power could be con-
ferred, since conscience belong-s to the indi-
vidual and is not the property of the body
politic. The magistrates were selected ex-
clusively from the members of the church ac-

131

cording- to law. Williams contended that with
equal propriety a doctor of physics or a pilot
should be selected for his skill in theolog-y or
standing- in the church.

Another champion for liberty in those early
times was William Penn, the pioneer of the
State that bears his name. As an expression
and memorial of the principles and feeling's
he cherished, and, so far as he could, infused
into those around him, he named the city
which he founded, Philadelphia, or the City
of Brotherly Love.

In an address to the people of the colony,
he expressed his opinion of liberty and what
the people mig-ht expect. "I hope," says
Penn, "you will not be troubled at your
chang-e and the king-'s choice, for you are now
fixed at the mercy of no g-overnor who comes
to make his fortune g-reat. You shall be g-ov-
erned by laws of your own making- and live a
free, and if you will, a sober and industrious
people. I shall not usurp the rig-ht of any or
oppress his person."

Speaking- of his colony, he says, "A free
colony for all mankind."

This spirit of liberty broug-ht by the early
settlers to the New World was cherished and
increased until it lig-hted up a torch that made
tyranny, despotism and oppression quail and
hasten from the land of freedom.

132

But wc ]):iss to those scciu's more closely
connected with the Revolution. For more
than one hundred yeiirs after the first settle-
ment of the ^American colonies, the British
ofovernment manifested but little interest in
their prosperity or welfare, althoui;-h the col-
onies were continually harassed by hostile
Indian tribes, their houses burned, their
farms pillao-ed and laid w^aste, their families
butchered or carried into barbarous and hope-
less captivity. When the colonies, by perse-
vering industry, laboring- under every disad-
vantage, arrived at a state of prosperity and
importance that attracted the attention of
European governments, then the insatiable
avarice of the British Parliament caused it to
manifest much professed interest in the pros-
perity of the American colonies, but this con-
cern was purely selfish as the sequel clearly
proved.

The language of Colonel Barre in reply to
Townsend on this point is most eloquent and
just. "They nourished by your indulgence!
No. Thev grew by your neglect. When you
began to care for them, that care was exer-
cised in sending persons to rule over them, to
spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their
actions and to prey upon their substance."

The oppressive measures of the British
Parliament which excited resistance and

133

formed the spirit of liberty in the American
people commenced as far back as 1664. Par-
liament reg-arded the people of the colonies as
an inferior g-rade of his Majesty's subjects,
dependent upon his will, and to be made at all
hazard subservient to the ag-g-randizement of
the British crown. Parliament, by certain
leo-islative acts, confined the American trade
almost exclusively to the mother country. To
benefit her own citizens the government pro-
hibited in many instances the establishment
of manufactories in the colonies. These op-
pressive and unjust restrictions and prohi-
bitions were in their effect most prejudicial
to the interest and welfare of New Eng-land,
as the natural sterility of the soil offered but
poor inducements to ag-ricultural pursuits.

Next a law was passed imposing- duties on
certain articles of merchandise to be paid in
the colonial ports. This was done to extort
revenue from the people of the colonies for
support of the home government.

Soon followed the infamous Stamp Act, by
which the people were compelled to use
stamped papers furnished by the government,
for which they were oblig-ed to pay an ex-
horbitant price. All deeds, contracts and the
like not written on this stamped paper, were
null and void. Further, a law was passed
providing for the trial and punishment of any

134

violation ol tln'su unjust and oppressive en-
actments, without juries — l)y jud<jfes entirely
dependent on the crown.

It was on the passa<^e of the Stamp Act that
Franklin, who was at the time in London,
wrote home to Mr. Thompson, an ardent
friend of liberty in the city of Philadelphia —
"The sun of liberty is set. You must lig-ht
the candles of industry and economy." "Be
assured," was the reply, "we shall lig'ht up
torches of quite another sort."

The colonies remonstrated and petitioned
against these acts of injustice in respectful
yet most decided lang-uag-e, but to very little
effect. However, at the instance of the cele-.
brated Pitt, the Stamp Act was repealed.
Other odious laws were left in full force.

Then a law was passed imposing- a tax on
glass and teas taken to America. The people
became convinced that it was the settled pur-
pose of the British government to tax them,
and to which they must submit and become
the vassals of England, or resist unto blood
these aggressions upon their rights. Little
time was required to decide the momentous
question. "Liberty or death," was the re-
sponse. So ardently were the people attached
to liberty and so resolute in resisting the
steady encroachments of injustice and tyran-
ny, all, rich and poor, young and old, men and

135

women, abandoned the use of tea entirely, and
swept the beverage from their tables. About
this time a ship arrived in Boston harbor,
f reig-hted with tea. The citizens at once g-ave
the captain to understand that he conld quiet-
ly leave the harbor with his vessel and its con-
tents, provided he set sail within a specified
time. Not heeding- this admonition, about
twenty persons, disg-uised as Mohawk In-
dians, boarded the ship and, protected by the
citizens, broke open three hundred and forty-
two boxes of tea and poured the contents into

the sea.

This act highly exasperated the British
Parliament and their object now w^as to in-
flict punishment upon their refractory sub-
jects. Various and oppressive measures were
resorted to, to subdue the rebellious, but the
only effect, so far as the people of the colonies
were concerned, was to extend and fan the
flame of liberty and consolidate the spirit of
resistance, and streng-then the determination
to resist unto blood and death these ag-g-res-
sions of the home g-overnment.

The 19th of April, 1775, is memorable in
the annals of the long- strug-g-le for independ-
ence as being- the day upon which the first
battle was foug-ht at Lexing-ton, between the
British and Americans. On the w^hole the re-
sult was in favor of freedom. The news

13()

s])re.'ul rapidh throiij^h the countrx'; peo-
])le were e\ erxwhere intensely excited; the
fiirnier left his ])1()\\, the mechanic his
tools, tiie la\v\er his hooks, the merchant
his j^-oods, and hastened to the scene of action.
Thus commenced the stru<^ofle which lasted
for seven lonof years, attended by hardships,
privations, snfferino- and bloodshed, of which
we can have but faint conception, and which
ended only when Great Britain declared to
the world, America is free.

Soon followed the battle of Bunker Hill, in
which the enemy, thou^'h with double the
numbers of men, were twice repulsed with
dreadful lo-ss and only succeeded in drivino-
the Americans from their post when ammuni-
tion was exhausted and nothing- left by which
to defend themselves but empty muskets.
Over one thousand of His Majesty's troops
were dead and wounded on the field. The
American loss was not half that number.

The l)attles of Saratog-a and Yorktown were
the most decisive during- the war in bring-ing-
about the g-rand result — the independence of
America and the g-lorious liberty we now en-
joy. 'At Saratog-a, Burgoyne, the British g-en-
eral, surrendered with his entire army to
General Gates and his noble band of patriots.
This occurred in October, 1777.

In October, 1781, the battle of Yorktown

137

was foug-ht which resulted in the surrender of
the British fleet and the array of Lord Corn-
wallis, and terminated the war.

The g-lorious intelligence flew on the wing's
of the wind. So great was the joy that some
lost their reason, and one, a good patriot in
the city of Philadelphia, expired.

You will now briefly notice the character,
the kind of people the men and women en-
gaged in the Revolutionary struggle. It
would be superfluous to say they were the
friends of Freedom. The struggle was not
despotism against despotism; not to cast off
one form of tyranny for the sake of another,
but the struggle was between despotism and
liberty. No sacrifice was too great, no suffer-
ing too appalling to be endured for Freedom.
Wives said to husbands, go; mothers said to
their sons, go and fight the battles of God and
your countr^^ Sisters encouraged brothers
as they were leaving home for the army in the
most heroic exhortations. Ladies of rank
and fortune made cartridges for the soldiers.

You have read of the heroic conduct of Mol-
Iv Stark, the soldier's wife, during the battle
of Trenton. During the hottest of the action
she carried water from a neighboring spring
to her husband and fellow soldiers. Her hus-
band was a gunner; a ball struck him, and he
fell at his post. No one could be spared to

138

take his place. The noble and ])atri()tic wom-
an performed the duties of a t^^unner with so
much ability and bravery that she received
the title of Captain Molly.

The sufferino^s of the soldiers were often
most intense from want of clothino- and food,
and none but men fio-htino- for freedom would
have endured them with such cheerfulness
and heroic fortitude.

The army that went to Canada by way of
the Kenebec w'ere driven to such extremities
in the uninhabited wilderness throug-h w^hich
they passed late in the fall that dog-s, car-
tridge boxes and old shoes were eaten with
avidity.

In midwinter the soldiers w^ere sometimes
without shoes, and they could be tracked by
the blood from their lacerated feet.

When disheartening- defeat and disaster at-
tended the American arms, as was sometimes
the case, the enemy w^ould embrace such times
of gloominess to offer pardon and bribes to
the officers and men to induce them to aban-
don the cause of liberty and return to their
allegiance to the crown of Great Britain.

But the lang-uage of Gen. Reed on one of
these occasions expressed the feelings of all.
He was offered ten thousand pounds ster-
ling- and a high office in the British service if
he would desert the American cause. His

139

noble reply was: "I am not worth purchas-
ing-, but such as I am the King- of Great
Britain is not rich enoug^h to buy me."

Lastly: There were a God acknowledging-
and a God-fearing- people. They not only
believed the abstract truth or doctrine of the
existence of a Supreme Being-, but with a
firm reliance on the protection of Divine Prov-
idence, they mutually pledg-ed each other
*'their lives, their fortunes and their sacred
honor," for the support of the principles set
forth in the Declaration of Independence.

The records of Cong-ress at that time abund-
antly prove this by the frequent national days
of fasting- and prayer and seasons of thanks-
g-iving-. When disaster attended the Ameri-
can army a day of fasting- and prayer was ob-
served, and when success and victory brig-ht-
ened the prospects of freedom a day of public
thanksg-iving-.

The special providence of God was clearly
manifested in g-uiding- and controling- the
events of that long- strug-g-le, which eventuated
so gloriously to the cause of liberty and the
people of the colonies. In raising- up such a
man as Washing-tion at such a time, in pre-
serving- his life, thoug-h frequently in the
hottest of the fig-ht, in blood and carnag-e.

In distinctly marked providence in favor of
the Americans and ag-ainst the enemy. There

140

is the memorable niilit.irx- lace that t()f)k ])lace
l)et\veen (Tencral Mori^-an and Lord Cornwal-
lis at the south — hrst to the lords of the Ca-
tawba, and then to those of the Yadkin.

Moro-an, with a force of Americans j^reatly
inferior in number, was retreatinor from and
in imminent dang-er of capture or destruction
by the British army under Cornwallis. Mor-
g-an reached the Catawba river just in time to
cross before nig^htfall. Cornwallis, with his
command, did not dare to attempt the cross-
ing- in the darkness. During- the nig-ht a tre-
mendous rain swelled the river out of banks,
making- it impossible for the British to cross
save by a long- detour, which was made.

A little later, and during- the same retreat,
Cornwallis' army stopped by darkness camped
on the banks of the Yadkin river. The camp-
fires of Morgan's band of patriots could be
seen on the other side, and it seemed as
though the lig-ht of the following- day must
witness their destruction, butag-ain the "win-
dows of heaven were opened" and the Yadkin
was transformed into a rag-ing-, impassable
torrent.

Disheartened at what was regarded by the
British commander as a second interposition
of Divine Providence, Cornwallis turned back
from the pursuit, and Morgan's army was
saved to the cause of freedom.

141

Lastly, let us briefly g-lance at the dang-ers
that threaten our liberties. There are foreign
and domestic foes to our free institutions.
The crowned heads of Europe have always
looked upon the United States with a jealous
eye, and with feelinofs of positive dislike, on
account of the discontent our institutions g'en-
erate in the minds of their oppressed subjects.
But dang-ers of this character need g-ive us
little alarm, as the United States in a just
cause is a match for any European power.

Our domestic enemies are of another and
more dang-erous character.

1. Intemperance is a dang-erous enemy to
freedom. That which puts shackles on a man
so effectually he cannot stir and unfits him for
all business. Our rulers have been captured
by this enemy.

2. Avarice, insatiable avarice, which leads
to bribery and corruption.

3. That mob spirit which has already be-
come formidable and increasing- in the coun-
try. The reig-n of the mob is the reig-n of
anarchy and terror. Liberties and rig-hts are
trampled on in the most wanton manner.

4. Another formidable enemy is the sys-
tem of slavery. On this point I speak as an
American citizen and friend of my country.
If there Avere at the present time no dang-er-
our indications seen from this quarter, the

142

nature of thf case renders it an eneniv ol the
most formidable character. Because slavery
and liberty are opposites — they are antaj^-o-
nistic and cannot live in harmony — the one
must be subverted bv the other sooner or
later. One is based upon principles contained
in the Declaration of Independence, the other
a palpable denial of those principles, and
denominates that o-lorious and incomparable
instrument a fig-ure of speech — a rhetorical
flourish, a beautiful abstraction. The en-
croachment of slavery upon freedom since the
g^reat actors in the scenes of the Revolution
have passed away, has been steady, effectual
and certain. It has demanded an abridg-e-
ment of the liberty of the press, strangled
free speech, and forced the surrender of ter-
ritory consecrated to freedom, to its desolat-
ing power. It has demanded and obtained a
judicial decision from the supreme tribunal of
the land, that its dominion is co-extensive
with the constitution of the United States.

God speed the day when another declaration
shall be made in this land, no less important,
no less g-rand and sublime than the one we
have heard read to-day, which will proclaim
the emancipation of a race now held in bond-
age, triumphantly vindicating the declaration,
that "all men are created equal."

143

NOTE

That part of this address, referring- to slav-
ery as one of the dangers threatening- the
country, and the existence of the government,
and stating that freedom and slavery could
not long- exist side by side, that sooner or
later one must g^o, was prophetic.

On June 16, 1858, thirteen years later, Mr.
Lincoln in accepting- the nomination for
United States Senator from Illinois said:

"A house divided against itself cannot
stand. I believe this government cannot en-
dure permanently, half slave and half free. I
do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do
not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it
will cease to be divided. It will become all
one thing- or the other."

William H. Seward at Rochester, New
York, October 25, 1858, said:

"It is an irrepressible conflict between op-
posing* forces, and it means that the United
States must and will, sooner or later become,
either entirely a slave holding nation or en-
tirelv a free labor nation."

Chapter XV

AN ADDRESS

BY REV. C. E. BROWN, DELIVERED IN CRESCO,
IOWA, SUNDAY EVENING, JANUARY 3, 1875.

"Our address this evening- upon the subject
of Temperance will be based upon the follow-
ing- passag-e of scripture: 'And I looked and
beheld a pale horse; and his name that sat on
him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
And power was g-iven unto them over the
fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword
and with hung-er, and with death, and by the
beasts of the earth.' Rev. 6: 8.

In the early history of mankind, when the
words of the lang-uag-e of the people were few
and inadequate to express abstract and pro-
found truths, emblems, symbols, hierog-lyph-
ics, and other representations w^ere resorted
to as means by which ideas were conveved
from one person to another; and although

[144]

145

sometimes unavoidably involving- the subject
in doubt and obscurity, yet particularly im-
pressive. Althoug-h the book of Revelation
contains much g-iven in symbols which the
lapse of time alone can unfold, yet we read
those descriptions, unsurpassed as they are
in majesty and sublimity, with the deepest in-
terest and most profound awe and reverence.
The book of Revelation is pre-eminently a
book of symbols and in the interpretation and
application of the symbols of this particular
passag-e, expositors have by no means been
ag-reed. And without the least pretense to
uncommon orig-inality w^e shall venture to
make a new application of these symbols for
your consideration this evening-.

We shall apply them and endeavor to make
g-ood that application, to Intemperance and its
train of consequences.

And why not? War is symbolized in this
book. Famine is symbolized. Pestilence that
walketh in darkness, and destruction that
wasteth at noon day, are symbolized. And
why not that more fearful curse, that unsur-
passed evil which entails upon the human fam-
ily far more widespread and dreadful calam-
ities than war, famine and pestilence com-
bined. This is not an exag-g-erated statement,
but is fully corroborated by carefully pre-
pared and thoroughly reliable statistics.

146

Now lor tlic symbols and their application.

The writer of this wonderfnl hook has in
vision a train — a procession. At the head of
this procession is a pale horse with his rider.
The name of the rider is Death, and Hell fol-
lowed with him and made up the train.

The Pale Horse is Intemperance. The
rider, which personifies the direct conse-
quences of intemperance, is Death. Hell or
Hades, which makes up the mij^hty proces-
sion — the dark abyss whose depths have never
been measured — whose g-loomy recesses have
never been surveyed, follows to eng-ulf and
swallow everythinor that is honest, just, pure,
lovely, or of g-ood report, in short, everything-
that makes life pleasant and desirable.

This represents the squalid wretchedness,
the untold and indescribable devastation,
moral and physical, which intemperance en-
tails upon the human family.

But let us make up the mig-hty train.

First. The Pale Horse. This word des-
cribing- the color or appearance of the horse
is fearfully sig-nificant and is not fully ex-
pressed by the word pale. It means a livid
pallor — a peculiar combination of black and
blue so as to produce a purple pallor, such
as is seen in the bloated face of him who died
after a protracted season of debauchery, the
victim of intemperance. The rider of this

147

pale horse the writer does not describe, but
he calls him Death.

This pale horse with his rider is at the head
of the column.

But let us in the first place make a street or
way for this procession.

And in order that saloon keepers and all
that are eng-ag-ed in the nefarious traffic may-
have a clear and impressive view of the extent
of their work of devastation, we will arrang-e
their shops, and we embrace only those in our
own beloved country, in two continuous par-
allel lines and we have a compact street more
than one hundred miles in leng-th.

As you pass along- this street you will see
mag-nificent palaces with marble fronts, fitted
up in the most g-org-eous and expensive man-
ner to allure the rich, the noble, the educated,
the refined, the g-ay and the g-iddy, within
their g-ilded walls to sip the poison from
g-olden g-oblets. You will also see low, loath-
some dog-g-eries, patronized by the masses
from the slums of cities and towns. These
are the extremes. Then there is every inter-
mediate g-rade, so that all classes are em-
braced within their destructive purposes.

Death upon the Pale Horse triumphantly
enters this long- street, this mig-hty avenue of
destruction — the murmuring- winds of heaven
mournfully playing- the death dirg-e — followed

148

first by a funeral procession, composed of
those who have died as the direct effects of
intoxication in a sin^jj-le year — one hundred and
fifty-two thousand in number, and makin^j^ a
procession more than fifty miles in len<^th,
takino- many days to pass a g^iven point.
Tramp, tramp, this sad and melancholy cor-
tege moves nig-ht and day.

Among- the dead you will see representatives
from every class of society — senators, gfovern-
ors, g"enerals, lawyers, doctors, professors
from colleg"es, ministers of the g^ospel, farm-
ers, mechanics, students, clerks, old, middle
ag*ed, young-, and not a few females.

And then add to this long- procession all
who have lost their lives indirectly from in-
temperance — those who have been murdered —
wives and children who have died by the cru-
elty and neg-lect of drunken husbands and
fathers — the thousands that have lost their
lives on railroads and steamboats and other-
wise, throug-h the stupidity and recklessness
of employes, caused by drink, and the mig-hty
column is nearly doubled.

And as a larg-e majority of those composing-
this part of the procession are husbands and
fathers, the next to file in are the mourners.
They come in all the sad and squalid wretch-
edness and misery which intemperance en-
tails. One hundred thousand widows and

149

three hundred thousand children moving- in
double file making- a procession many miles in
length. They come from dark, damp, gloomy
cellars, filthy garrets, alms houses, poor
houses and insane asylums.

The wails of these worse than widowed
women, the cries of these worse than orphaned
children, ascend to heaven and call in trumpet
tones for veng-eance upon their inhuman tor-
menters— the brutal authors of their sorrows.
See the heart-broken wife and mother, with a
face haggard with care and want as she tries
in vain to hush the cries of a hung-ry babe.
Hear the lamentations of mothers over sons
who have gone down early in life to drunk-
ard's graves. "Oh, my son, my darling- son,
would to God I had died for thee and with
thee ere thou didst open thine eyes upon a
rum cursed earth."

Look, my hearers, at this saddest of all
funeral corteg-es as it is moving-. Inspect
each family g-roup as it passes. See that wid-
owed mother, pale, haggard, forlorn, carrying-
a puny, sickly child in her arms, leading- an-
other by the hand, followed by three or four
more without the first expression of youthful
vivacity and cheerfulness in their faces, all
utterly crushed out by the demon of intem-
perance.

What we have thus briefly referred to in

150

the appearance of this ])rocession of mourners
is only some of the outside visible fruits of
intemperance — of the rum traffic.

But the most vivid, the strongest imag'ina-
tion fails to brin^- out the scenes which lie
back of the visible and apparent ravai^^es of in-
temperance, and far deeper than all these,
there lies a field of desolation, of devastation
and ruin, which has never been explored and
never can be described. "It is the wasted
realm of social affection, the violated sanc-
tuary of domestic peace." In that field the
brig*htest hopes have been blasted, the most
cherished aspirations disappointed, ambition
crushed and loving" hearts broken.

Many years ag-o, in one of the eastern states,
a young- couple were united in marriag-e.
They were well educated, moved in the best
circles of society, and w^ere respected by all.

Their wedding- festivities were not shaded
by a sing-le misg-iving* of either party. They
started out upon life's voyag-e with apparently
no adverse breeze or threatening- cloud. The
future however revealed the fact that a small
cloud "like a man's hand" lay concealed be-
low the horizon, whose dark hues, as it g-rad-
ually came in sig-ht, were in a measure di-
vested of their ug-liness by the brilliant rays
of the morning- sun. But that cloud, small
and then foreboding" no alarming- dang-er.

151

gradually rose and expanded until the whole
heavens were overcast, and it poured its des-
tructive fiery bolts into the once happy family.

The fact was, though successfull}^ con-
cealed, the young man had contracted a taste
for intoxicating- drink. Without following the
history of the family, always the same under
like circumstances, things went from bad to
worse until years of wretchedness had passed.
One winter night the loving, confiding wife,
now a mother of several children, in a cold,
cheerless house, after putting the older ones
to bed and caring for them as best she could,
sat holding a sick one upon her lap. The hus-
band and father came home at a late hour
crazed with whiskey. Enraged because his
supper was not ready he seized an old fash-
ioned house shovel and with one terrible blow
upon her head felled her to the floor. An
alarm was given by the older children and
when the neighbors came they found the poor
woman already dead with tear stained cheeks.

Now take those tears as the representative
of all the tears caused by the intemperance of
that husband and father, and suppose them to
be the representatives of all the sorrow and
wretchedness caused directly and indirectly
by his intemperance; then let the history of
those tears be fully written, and we have a
description of the devastation of intemperance

152

in one family and its immediate connections.
We sav its connections, for let it be borne in
mind that that intemperate man was connected
by stron<)f and tender ties to others besides
his wife and children. He was a son and
brother as well as a husband and father. Fur-
thermore, that dead wife and mother was also
a daug-hter and sister, by reason of which sor-
row and sadness were carried into other
hearts and other families. And then let it
be borne in mind that the consequences of
that father's intemperance are entailed upon
his children and perhaps upon children's
children even to the third and fourth gener-
ations.

But w^e must pass on. Must leave this part
of Hell that follows in the train of Death upon
the Pale Horse, thoug-h by no means have we
reached the end of the mighty column.

The next in the procession are from the
jails, houses of correction, prisons, peniten-
tiaries, and the like. The cause of their be-
ing in those places is told in one word —
whiskey.

Their number amounts to over one hundred
thousand annually, guilty of every shade of
crime from petty larceny to the most brutal
murder. There is nothing- in all nature that
has the power like intoxicating drinks to stu-
pify the conscience, to paralyze the moral sen-

153

timents, to blot out the affection, in short, to
so completely brutalize the entire man. Un-
der its influence husbands murder wives.
Parents murder children, children murder
parents, brothers murder brothers, neig^hbors
murder neighbors.

This immense army of criminals is also
composed of representatives of every class of
community, every occupation, every ag-e and
of both sexes.

Now, my friends, could all the bloody, re-
volting* and trag-ical circumstances connected
with the perpetration of all the crimes this
mig-hty army are g-uilty of be enacted before
our own eyes, we mig'ht be prepared in some
measure to appreciate the application of the
symbols of the text. And Hell followed in
the train.

But we have not yet reached the end of this
mig^hty column. Still they come. It reaches
back to an immeasurable distance. The van
of another division crowds closely upon the
rear of the preceding-, and the thousands of
the approaching" column will soon take the
places of those g-one before.

The next in the procession are the living-
drunkards and the moderate drinkers, so
called. These tw^o classes are so thoroug-hly
interming-led and mixed up, we will make no
attempt to separate them.

154

They bet^fin witli hecr and wiiu' and end
with whiskey. They be^in with ti])])lin<4-, and
end with drunkenness. They bet^in in the
parlors on Turkish and velvet carpets, in the
marble front and oforo-eously furnished sa-
loons, and end in the lowest and most filthy
dives, and in the o-utter. They beg-in with
respectability and end with debauchery,
shame and crime.

This class is far more numerous than any,
and perhaps all that preceded. Its numbers
g-o into millions. Prom this class the others
are recruited. More, if it was not for this
class the preceding" ones would have no exist-
ence. Thousands of this class who seem to
be so far towards the rear of the mig*hty
column will very soon find themselves in close
proximity to the Pale Horse with his rider.
Tramp, tramp, the procession moves steadily
along '*to that undiscovered country from
whose bourne no traveler returns."

This vast multitude in every stage of pro-
gress in the broad way that leads to the
drunkard's death and to his end, is composed
of husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, wives,
mothers, daughters, sisters, and more dis-
tant relations. Hence we shall be justified in
repeating- a statement before made: There
are scenes which lie back of the visible and
apparent ravages of intemperance and far

155

deeper than all these, there lies a field of des-
olation, of devastation and ruin which has
never been explored and never can be des-
cribed. It is the wasted realm of the strong-
est and most tender social affection, the vio-
lated sanctuary of domestic peace.

In that field the brig-htest hopes are blasted,
the most cherished anticipations disappointed,
ambition crushed and loving- hearts broken.

All other evils and ag-ents combined em-
ployed by the devil himself do not and cannot
do so much to make hell on earth as intoxicat-
ing drinks.

A person may realize the truth of this state-
ment to some extent, by taking- a nig-ht walk
through the streets and alleys and avenues of
any g-reat city, where every other house is a
brothel and the intermediate one a saloon of
the lowest order, mutually furnishing- patron-
age to each other.

And lastly the class bringing- up the rear of
the column are the tax payers, the masses
who either voluntarily or by constraint, pay
tribute to intemperance. This monster evil
is terribly exacting- and lays every industry
of the nation under contribution. It crowds
our jails, penitentiaries, poor houses, alms
houses and asylums with inmates. It length-
ens the criminal dockets of our courts.

More money is paid out in the United States

156

in one year for intoxicatinf>- drinks and their
immediate consecjuences than for flour and
meal, cotton g-oods, woolen g-oods, clothing-,
boots and shoes, newspapers and books. If
all the money expended in the United States
annually for intoxicating- liquors and their di-
rect consequences was devoted to the liquida-
tion of the national debt, it would be wiped
out in less than three years. The state of
Iowa alone, with her string-ent liquor law,
spends annually nearly thirty-six millions for
the vile stuff.

But we will pass on. If we are correct in
this application of the symbols already no-
ticed, it will not be difficult to apply the
balance.

"And the power was g-iven unto them over
the fourth part of the earth to kill with the
sword, and with hung-er, and with death by
the beasts of the earth."

"Over a fourth of the earth."

By this we are to understand, not an exact
definite part, but a widespread power to con-
trol, a g-eneral sweeping- calamity. Pesti-
lence, however destructive, is confined to lo-
calities. War, however desolating-, is limited
in its calamities. Famine, however appalling-,
is g-enerally confined to communities. But
the devastations of intemperance are not

157

bounded by communities, nations, or conti-
nents.

**To kill with the sword."
This means death by violence, murder in its
several deg-rees. It is a well known fact that
such deaths are the prominent fruits of in-
temperance.

"And with hung-er."

An unmeasured future alone can reveal the
countless number of human being^s who have
died and will yet die by starvation or by dis-
eases caused by want of food, or in conse-
quence of unwholesome food, all broug-ht about
by intemperance. And the number would be
more than doubled if it were not for the pub-
lic provision made to feed the hung-ry and
starving- victims of the inhuman traffic.
*«And to kill with death."
This is peculiar lang-uag-e and is intended
to express a most sig-nificant truth. Death is
made use of as an instrument with which to
kill, i. e,, death is inherent in the instrument.
When the sons of the prophets were eating-
poisoned pottage unawares, one, when he be-
g-an to feel the effects of the poison cries out
to Elisha: **0h thou man of God, there is
death in the pot;" i. e. we shall be killed by
death in the pot.

The application of this to our present sub-
ject is easy and perfectly apposite. As an in-

15S

stninient of killing-, death or a deadly poison
is an inherent element of alcohol.

"And by the beasts of the earth."

Such beasts are symbols of sava<^e ferocity.
With remorseless indiiference, they rend, kill
and devour. They know no repect or sympa-
thy. The ag-ed, the young-, the strong- man,
the feeble delicate female, childhood and
helpless infancy are alike to them. They
hide, they crouch, they disguise, they allure
to slay and devour.

These symbolize the rum-seller.

The hung-ry lion or tig-er does not rend, kill
and devour its prey with more remorseless in-
difference, with less sympathy for its bleed-
ing, dying- victim, than the rum-seller, as he
plies his business of devastation and ruin.
It matters not to him what the consequences
may be personally to the victim of his insatia-
ble greed for g-ain. or what may be the conse-
quences to his suffering- family. It makes no
difference how earnestly wife and children
may plead to g-ive no more drink, he will let
him have the poison just as long- as he has a
dime to pay for it.

John B. Goug-h relates the following- which
occurred in Massachusetts:

"A poor old lady, formerly living- in afflu-
ence, had a husband and two sons who became
intemperate. One morning- a son was found

159

dead with his head in a pool of water, into
which he had fallen while intoxicated. In
view of this terrible affliction, she wrote a pe-
tition to her neig^hbor, the rum-seller, entreat-
ing- him to g-ive her husband and remaining-
son no more liquor. Such a petition coming"
from the w^ife and mother, under such circum-
stances, one would think might have melted a
heart of adamant. But it did not melt the
rum-seller's heart. He took the petition,
read it, deliberately cut it into tapers and put
them in a tumbler, and when the father and
son came into the bar room, he would g-ive
them cig-ars and those tapers to light them.
This he continued until they were all con-
sumed, and then boasted that he had made the
father and son burn up the pious petition of
the old woman."

"And I looked and beheld a Pale Horse and
his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell
followed with him."

Chapter XVI.

HISTORICAL ADDRESS

DELIVERED SEPTEMBER 22, 1892, AT SEMI-CEN-
TENNIAL JUBILEE OF THE DAVENPORT BAP-
TIST ASSOCIATION, AT CLINTON, IOWA.

"In this historical address we wish to illus-
trate Bible lessons to the praise and g"lory of
God. Such lessons as are found in Josh. 1:
G-7: "Be strong- and of g-ood courag-e. Only
be thou strong- and very courag-eous, that
thou mayest observe to do all the law which
Moses, My servant, commanded thee. Turn
not from it, to the rig-ht hand or to the left,
that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou
g-oest."

Also, Isa. 6: 8-9: "I heard the voice of the
Lord saying-: Whom shall I send and who
will g-o for Us? Then said I, here am I; send
me. And He said, Go."

[160]

161

Also, Mark 16: 15: "And He said unto
them, Go ye into all the world and preach the
g-ospel to every creature."

Also, Ps. 37: 3: "Trust in the Lord and do
g-ood, and thou shall dwell in the land and
verily thou shalt be fed."
Dwell in the land.

Our Iowa is indeed a beautiful land. A
g-oodly land. A land desirable to dwell in.
We do not wonder the Indians, when the time
came to take a final leave of this beautiful land
and move on towards the setting- sun, wept
like children.

The first, or Black Hawk purchase, made in
1832, taking- effect June, 1833, embraced a
strip fifty miles wide west of the Mississippi
river, extending from the state of Missouri on
the south to the neutral ground on the north,
containing- about six million acres.

The second purchase, made in 1837, taking-
effect February, 1838, was a strip west of the
first and supposed to contain 1,250,000 acres.
The balance of Iowa was opened for settle-
ment in May, 1843. In one year from the time
the first or Black Hawk purchase took effect,
the first Baptist Church in Iowa was org-an-
ized nine or ten miles west of Burling-ton,
and called the Long Creek (now Danville)
Baptist Church. The six Iowa Churches
composing the Davenport Association were

1(»2

all ()r<4ani/cd wliilr \'an liurun, jL'ffers(jn,
Was hi Hilton, Johnson, Linn, Buchanan, Fay-
ette and Clayton counties were the western
boundary of civilization, and the eastern
boundary of a vast territory extendi njjf to the
British possessions on the north and the Pa-
cific on the west, and in the sole possession
of Indians and wild beasts. At that time
the nearest railroad to Iowa had not reached
as far west as the city of BuiTalo, and
Chicaofo was a country villa.o-e in a v,estern
sloug'h, or mud hole. And at that time the
impression was g-eneral that in consequence
of the scarcity of fuel and fencing- material,
and so far from w^ater communication, the
great prairies of Illinois and Iowa would never
be settled.

The contrast between then and now came
most impressively a few^ weeks ag^o as we
sped on a Burling-ton train throug-h the luxur-
iant g^rain fields of Iowa and Nebraska, and as
^ve rushed along-, drawn by g-reat mog^ul en-
g-ines, scaling' the snowy heig^hts and plung--
ing- throug-h the dark and awful g-ranite canons
of Colorado, and as we walked the streets of
thein growing- and prosperous cities and
towns, and as we considered that like condi-
tions continue for many hundred miles to the
Pacific ocean.

The first Baptist Church west of the Mis-

163

sissippi river, north of Missouri, was organ-
ized in a little loo- cabin nine miles west of the
city of Burling-ton. This interesting- event
took place June 20, 1834, and consisted of
eleven members, four brethren and seven sis-
ters, namely, Enoch Cyrus, Prank Cyrus,
Rebecca Cyrus, Anna Cyrus, Rachel Dickens,
Mary Ann Dickens, Noble Housely, Naomi
Housely, William Manly, Hepzibah Manly and
Jane Lamb. Elders John Log-an and Gard-
ner Bassett, of Illinois, were present to en-
courao-e and assist in the organization of the
church. It was called the Long- Creek
Church.

Four or five years after, close by this same
cabin on the prairie lawn, the first Associa-
tion west of the Mississippi river was organ-
ized, called Des Moines Association. In Oct-
ober, 1889, on a bright autumn day, as though
God smiled upon the scene, a large concourse
of people gathered around the remains of the
little cabin to appropriately observe memorial
services of the fift3^-fourth anniversary of the
Church, and the fiftieth of the Association.
How intensely interesting' the thought and
imaginations that crowded upon the mind and
solemnly and joyfully oppressed our hearts,
as we looked upon the remains of that cabin
and thought of the happy meeting more than
fifty-four 3^ears before — of the songs of praise,

164

''All Hail the Power of Jesus Name," and the
sermon by Elder Lo^-an and the prayer by
Elder Bassett that God would be to the dear
little Church in the wilderness "a pillar of
cloud by day and a pillar of lire by ni<^ht/' to
lead and protect. That church, now Danville,
yet lives, strong- in the Lord and in the power
of His mig-ht.

We will g-ive a brief history of the organi-
zation of the seven Churches composing- the
Baptist Association, org-anized in Davenport,
September 16, 1842. The second west of the
Mississippi river, north of Missouri.

We will beg-in with LeClaire, as this was the
first Baptist Church org-anized west of the
Mississippi and north of Des Moines county.
Early in 1839, Elder Rodolphus Weston, of
Carthage, Hancock county, Illinois, made a
missionary tour up the Mississippi as far
north as Scott county, Iowa, preaching- the
precious g-ospel to the settlers. In the upper
part of Scott county he stopped a number of
days to preach and visit the people. The re-
sult was the org-anization of a Church of six
members, viz: Joseph Turner and Tacy, his
wife. Jiving- a mile west of where LeClaire now
stands. William Palmer and Amanda, his
wife, living- in the Wapsy Bottom, ten miles
north of brother Turner's, and William Rowe
and Mary, his wife, living- in a log- cabin on

165

the banks of the Mississippi, midway between
the two extremes. The little Church was or-
ganized in brother Rowe's house June 10,
1839, and this was the place of meeting- for
several years. As brother Palmer and wife,
and brother Rowe and wife emig-rated from
Bath, Steuben county, New York; in grateful
remembrance of the dear old home they called
it the Bath Baptist Church. This name was
retained until April, 1844, when it was
changed to LeClaire. Brother Palmer
brought with him from New York a favorite
family horse, very old, but true and faithful.
The old horse's name was "Doc." People
living- on the road between brother Palmer's
and brother Rowe's always knew when there
was a meeting- of the Church, for they were
sure to see sister Palmer riding- old "Doc"
and brother Palmer walking- by her side. El-
der Weston was invited to become pastor; ac-
cepted and returned to Carthage to arrange
family matters. He was taken sick, hover-
ing- between life and death for weeks. His
cherished plans and purposes had to be given
up, and he never returned. The Church
kept up Covenant meetings and had preach-
ing occasionally. Two months after the
Church was organized, Daniel C. Davidson,
living on Crow Creek, a few miles above Dav-
enport, united by letter. Ten months later

PollyMcKinstcr joiiu'd 1)\- K'tU'r. Ncarlx' two
ye.'irs later Koht'rt Hilton and Orleans Blan-
chard, livinj^- in Illinois baciv of Port Bvron,
joined by letter. At the time the Daven-
port Association was formed, it reported a
membership of eleven. One of the constit-
uent members, brother Rowe, had died.

The first revival and the iirst additions by
baj^tism occurred in the fall of 1843, under
the labors of Elder Jessie N. Seely. Twen-
ty-two were added by baptism and ei^-ht by
letter. From this time for years it enjoyed a
g-ood measure of prosperity until the Zion
Church was oro-anized a few miles back of
LeClaire, depriving- it of most of its rural
field and membership, and left it little but
the fluctuating- population of the villag^e.

May God in His mercy send prosperity and
save it from extinction.

Davenport — This is the next church in the
date of its org-anization, September 14, 1839,
consisting- of eleven members. Elder Calvin
Greenleaf, of Grig-g-sville, Illinois, w^as com-
missioned in the spring- of 1839 by the Home
Missionary Societ\^ to labor in Davenport.
He commenced in June and remained but two
months. Elder Titus Gillett, of Rock Island,
held occasional preaching services in the place,
and probably it was due to his labors the
Church was constituted. For several months
it had the services of Oliver Emerson, a young-

167

man from Ohio, but declined to ordain him as
his views on the subject of the Lord's supper
did not accord with the Baptists, and he be-
came a Conoregationalist.

In June, 1841, Elder Ezra Pisher was com-
missioned by the Home Missionary Society to
labor in Davenport and Bloomino^ton (Mus-
catine). Before the close of the first year he
dropped the Davenport part of his field and
devoted his time to Muscatine and other
places.

November, 1842, Elder Charles E. Brown
became joint pastor of the Davenport and
Rock Island Churches. In the following- Feb-
ruary revival meeting's were held, assisted by
Elder T. Powell, in the Old Court House in
Rock Island, As there was easy communica-
tion between the two places by a safe ice
bridg-e on the Mississippi river, during- that
long-, cold winter Davenport shared largely in
the g-ood work, receiving- eig'hteen by baptism,
and fifteen by letter. Rock Island received
twenty by baptism and five by letter.

During- the following- summer, 1843, Elder
Brown made several missionary tours up the
Mississippi on both sides as far as Lyons and
Pulton; org-anized a Church at Camanche, and
one at Port Byron, and baptized in both
places. These early Churches had the true
missionary spirit and said to their pastors,

lf)8

"Go, preach to the destitute in regions be-
yond."

Dubuque — This is the next Church, organ-
ized August 9, 1840, with eleven members.
During the following winter it had preaching
a part of the time by Elder Warren B. Morey,
of the Home Missionary Society at Galena,
Illinois. Elder Burton Carpenter became
pastor in the spring of 1841. During his pas-
torate of three years, eleven were received
by baptism and eighteen by letter, and a place
of worship, yes, a meeting house, about twenty
by thirty, was built. Elder Edward S. By-
ron succeeded Elder Carpenter in Septem-
ber, 1844.

Iowa City — This Church was organized by
Elders W. B. Morey and B. Carpenter, June
26, 1841, consisting of eleven members. The
joyful occasion was rendered more so by the
baptism of two rejoicing candidates in the
beautiful Iowa river, Elder Morey officiating.
There w^as joy in that city. Elder Morey was
the first pastor. After the first year his field
was enlarged by the Home Missionary Society
to take in low^a City, Marion, in Linn county,
and the Cedar river country. The first
marked religious interest in the Iowa City
Church occurred under the pastorate of Elder
Dexter P, Smith, during the winter of 1845-6.

169

Nine were added by baptism and eig-ht by
letter.

Muscatine — This Church was organized by
Elder Ezra Fisher, October 30, 1841, consist-
ing- of six members, viz: Stephen Hedly, Al-
bert Beaty, Julia C. Dew^bber, Margaret Mus-
g-raves, Betsy Ing-als and Nancy Bear. Dur-
ing- the first year of its existence four were
added by baptism and fourteen by letter.
Elder Fisher was the first pastor and left in
1844, g-oing- to Oreg-on in 1845.

Rock Island, Illinois— This Church was or-
g-anized June 6, 1837, by Elder Titus Gillett,
who was its first pastor. In November, 1842,
the Church called Elder C. E. Brown to preach
the following- winter and in May "called Elder
Brown to be co-pastor w^ith Elder Gillett, the
two to receive such compensation as the indi-
vidual circumstances of the members would
allow."

Forks of the Maquoketa — On the 26th of
May, 1842, under appointment from the Amer-
ican Baptist Home Missionary Society, on a
salary of one hundred dollars, the payment of
which was made conditional that the balance
of the missionary's support was obtained up-
on the field of his labor. Elder Brown came to
this place.

At this time the Home Missionary Society
was in its infancy and had but little money

170

lor its consl.'inth' i^row inj^- woi'k. I)iirin<^- its
fiscal and missionary year of 1842 and '43, the
receipts of the Society from all sources
amounted to onl\- S11,S()().51 , with ei<>-hty-five
missionaries in the Held, receiving- from the
Society an average of about S131.00 each, and
obtaining^ the balance — whatever that mig-ht
mean — from their respective fields of labor.
We distinctly remember that the balance con-
tained very little cash. With no intention of
making- invidious comparisons, we think there
was more of the ag'gfressive missionary spirit
then, than now. We will compare the fiscal
and missionary year of 1842-43 with that of
1881-82, the fiftieth year of the Society work.
Then, cash receipts were $11,806.51; now,
$311,918.38. Then, eig-hty-five missionaries
in the field; now% five hundred and twelve.
Results: Then, the eig-hty-five missionaries
org'anized fifty new churches in one year; now,
five hundred and twelve missionaries organ-
ized only seventy-five new churches in one
year. Then, eig^hty-five missionaries in one
year baptized one thousand four hundred and
eig-hty-nine, or over seventeen each; now, five
hundred and twelve missionaries baptize in
one year one thousand six hundred and sev-
enty-five, or less than four each.

Two of the six Iowa Churches composing-
the Davenport Association commenced with

171

six members each — LeClaire and Muscatine-

Three — Davenport, Dubuque and Iowa City,
commenced with eleven each.

One — Maquoketa, with fourteen.

All now prospering- except LeClaire.

A Church now with a g-ood house of worship
and plenty of perishing- souls around, reduced
to a membership of six or eleven, or twenty-
five or thirty, g-ives up and says "We can't"
and dies.

What makes the difference?

In the former case there was courag-e, pur-
pose, and an unfailing- expectation to live and
prosper.

In the latter courag-e is g'one, purpose is
g'one, but an all-prevailing- expectation to die
is ever present.

Next. What is the Bible missionary spirit
embodied in the commission "Go ye into all
the world, etc., etc.?" Paul was converted
completely into this spirit, for when it pleased
God, w^ho called him by His Grace, to reveal
His son in me, Gal. 1:15-16, he says: "That
I mig-ht preach Him among- the heathen, im-
mediately, I conferred not Avith flesh and
blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem, but I
went to Arabia."

A vision appeared to Paul in the nig-ht;
there stood a man saying- : "Come over into
Macedonia, and help us, and immediately we

172

endeavored to ^ro into Macedonia, assuredly
gfathering- that the Lord had called us to
preach the gospel unto them. Therefore,
loosing- from Troas we came with a straig^ht
course to Samothracia '• ^' "^ and so on to
Philippi, the chief city in that part of Mace-
donia." In another place Paul says of him-
self, ''as poor, yet making- many rich; as hav-
ing nothing- yet possessing- all thing's," etc.
Now, as Paul declares that he was poor and
had nothing- he must have g-cne forth accepting^
to the fullest extent the divine assurance,
"Trust in the Lord and do g-ood and verily
thou shalt be fed," and, "Lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world."

If we understand the Bible Missionary
spirit, the question as to salary cuts no iig-ure
whatever in making- the decision "Assuredly
g-athering that the Lord had called us to
preach the g-ospel unto them."

For want of this Apostolic Missionary spirit
hundreds of these reduced churches have died
and hundreds more must die. For it is very
certain these feeble churches cannot pay the
salaries now demanded, and this is the princi-
pal reason for losing- hope and courag-e. This
precious divine promise was intended to meet
this perplexing- salary business: "Trust in
the Lord and do g-ood and thou shalt dwell in
the land and verily thou shalt be fed."

173

We believe in the providence of God and
that the gold and the silver and the cattle upon
a thousand hills are His and at His control,
and upon this g-rand truth is based this most
precious promise. The promise does not re-
lease even the poorest of Christians from the
binding- obligation of the divine command, "To
give as the Lord hath prospered." The poor
widow^'s mites must be given?

Our great Captain says, "Go ye into all the
world," etc.

The Bible plan is given in Isaiah. The
Lord said: "Whom shall we send and who
will go for us?" God calls for volunteers.
The response comes promptly, "Here am I;
send me," The Lord says "Go." The sal-
ary question is settled by "Trust in the Lord."
One reason the Methodists are more success-
ful than any other denomination in a new
country is because they are on the Bible plan
in saying to their preachers, "Go."

In the month of June, 1842, at Iowa City,
the Iowa Baptist State Convention was or-
ganized. Delegates from churches north of
the Iowa river held an informal meeting to
consider the subject of organizing a new as-
sociation, and fixed upon Davenport as the
place and the 16th of the following Septem-
ber as the time for carrying out the above
purpose.

174

111 ])iirsnaiK"c' ol t Ik' .-Lhovc .'ipj)()iiitniL'nt, dcl-
eo-ates Iroin tlu' lollowini^- cliurclu's were
present :

Bath, (LeClaire) - William Palmer, Benja-
min l'\ Pike and Orleans Blanchard.

Bloom in<,rton, (Muscatine) — Elder Ezra Fish-
er, pastor, Moses Perrin and W. T. Dewibber.

Davenport — Hiram Brown, C. C. Blood, J.
M. Eldredg-e.

Dubuque — Elder Burton Carpenter, pastor,
and Benjamin Rupert.

Iowa City — Elder Warren B. Morey, pastor,
and A. Denison.

Forks of the Maquoketa— Elder C. E. Brown,
pastor.

Rock Island, 111.— Elder Titus Gillett, pas-
tor, E. F. Calkins and Nelson J. Swart-
wout.

This embraced all the churches north of the
Iowa river, except the first, Delaware, in
Delaware, county, Elder Ira Blanchard,
pastor.

Elder Carpenter w^as chosen moderator.
Elder Fisher, clerk, and Elder Brown preached
the sermon. Elder Brown is the only one of
these- deleg-ates now^ livino-.

In iixintr the time for the annual meeting- of
the Association two important considerations
had to be met. 1st. To avoid the sickly sea-
son in autumn. 2nd. To have it at the time

175

of wild fruits, fresh vegetables and fat chick-
ens. But as all these, sickness, fat chickens
and fresh veg-etables, came at the same time
of the year, of the two evils we concluded to
take the least, and have the chickens and take
our chances with the ague, and fixed on Friday
before the third Sabbath in September, and
hold the meeting over the Sabbath.

This time remained until wise men came
from the East and chano-ed it, to the o-reat
detriment of the spiritual and devotional parts
of the meeting'.

The first annual meeting of the Association
was held in Dubuque, commencing Friday, the
15th day of September, 1842. Elder W. B.
Morey preached the introductory sermon,
George S. Hampton was chosen moderator,
and Joseph T. Fales, clerk.

Although the delegates had to travel from
sixty to ninety miles by wagon, a good repre-
sentation was present. At this session six
new churches were received into the Associa-
tion, viz : Fulton and Lyons, Elder E. Mar-
cellus, pastor, and H. Root, delegates; two
added by baptism, twelve by letter ; present
membership twelve.

Camanche — No pastor ; John Welsh, dele-
gate ; eight added bv baptism; whole number
twelve. These eight were baptised at the

17()

time the church was organized, probably June,
1843, bv Elder C. E. Brown.

Port Byron, 111. — Daniel Wilson, delef^'-ate ;
four added by baptism, baptised at the time
the church was org-anized, June or July, 1843,
by Elder C. E. Brown. Whole number twenty.

Marion — Org-anized by Elder W. B. Morey
in the summer of 1843; three added by bap-
tism, five by letter ; whole number thirty-four.
Letter but no deleg-ates.

Cedar River, (on the Cedar river below
where Cedar Rapids now stands) — Organized
by Elder Morev in the summer of 1843; five
added by baptism; whole number seventeen;
Robert R. Rogers and Thomas Fitz, delegates.

Galena, 111. — Elder Joel Wheeler, pastor,
John T. Templeton and John H. Champlin,
delegates ; one added by baptism, ten by let-
ter : whole number thirty-four.

The statistical aggreg-ate was reported by
the churches as follows: Sixty-five added by
baptism, sixt3^-four by letter, twenty-six dis-
missed by letter, three dropped, one died;
whole number two hundred and ninety-six.

In connection with the minutes was printed
an article by Elder Jacob Knapp on com-
munion. All done for Sll.OO.

On Sunday Elder Brown preached a mis-
sionary sermon, after which a collection was
taken up, amounting- to $8.00.

177

The following- memorandum was added to
the minutes by the clerk: "Great harmony
and g-ood feeling- prevailed throug-h all the
deliberations and the brethren evinced a de-
termination to g-o forward in the cause of
Christ with renewed zeal."

Before closing- this address I wish to speak
briefly of the org-anization of the Camanche
Baptist Church. In the month of June, 1843,
a man called at my house in Davenport with a
halter tied about his shoulders. He said he
was hunting stray horses and also wished to
g-et a Baptist minister to come to Camanche
and baptize himself and wife and his brother
and several others who had become Christians
in a revival there. The man's name was John
Welch. Camanche is some thirty-five miles
above Davenport on the Iowa side of the Mis-
sissippi river. I told Brother Welch I would
be at Camanche the second Sunday thereafter
to preach, org-anize a Church and baptize. I
found there had been no preaching- in the
place. But a Baptist family living- three miles
north of Camanche by the name of Thomas,
and another by the name of Root, living- back
of Albany, in Illinois, and others had held
relig-ious meeting's in the place and the revival
was the result. I organized a Church and
baptized eig-ht, and there was joy in Camanche.
Althoug-h I was pastor of the Davenport and

178

Rock Island CluirchL's, I looked after the wel-
fare of the new interest at Camanche. The
last person I baptized into the Church was a
youno- woman, in June, 1844, by the name of
Clayburn. Her home was near Brother Thom-
as, three miles north of Camanche. 1844 was
a season of hig-h water. For weeks the Mis-
sissippi was booming- and by reason of a sloutrh
extendinjj- from the river above around some
distance back and emptyin<>- below the town,
Camanche was on an island that summer.
Miss Clayburn 's purpose to be baptized and
join the Baptist Church met with the most de-
cided opposition at home. But when the time
came, with the courag-e and determination of
a martyr, she took a bundle of clothes for the
necessary chang-e and started on foot for Ca-
manche, and when she came to the sloug-h,
which was neither narrow nor shallow, she
held the bundle on her head with one hand and
went throug-h, and was cordially and loving-ly
received and baptized. A few years ag'o she
died in Oakland, California, a faithful follower
of Christ.

I love to think of those early days in Iowa.
I love to cherish the memory of those dear
brethren and sisters, who, amid discourag-e-
ment, sowed the g-ood seed in Camanche which
has not failed to the present time to bring*
forth fruit to the praise and glory of Go-.l.

Chapter XVII.

EXTRACTS FROM AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV.
PHILLIP PERRY BROWN, WITH BRIEF
SKETCHES OF HIS CHILDREN.

I was born in Bennington, Vermont, Sept-
ember 17, 1790. My father's name was Na-
thaniel. He was born in Leicester, Wooster
county, Massachusetts, November 5, 1767, and
died near White's Corners, in the town of
Hamburg-, Erie county. New York, October 1,
1854.

My mother's maiden name was Anna Perry.
She was born in Lebanon, New London coun-
ty, Connecticut, April 16, 1770, and died in
Aug-usta, Oneida county, New York, March
20, 1826. Her remains lie in the burying-
g-round near the stone school house on the
"Mile Strip," in the present town of Stock-
bridg-e.

I was the second of eig-ht children, five sons

[179]

180

and three daughters, of whom only two, be-
sides myself are livinj^-.

Mv paternal orandfather was Parley Brown.
At the outbreaking- of the Revolutionary war,
he was among- the first to volunteer — and with
a brother entered the American army. Both
were in the battle of Bunker Hill. When our
forces were compelled to retire, his brother
having" been wounded and unable to walk, my
grandfather bore him on his back in safety
from the field. Both were larg-e, strong-, mus-
cular men, w^eig-hing- nearly two hundred
pounds each.

I do not know whether he took part in an}^
subsequent eng-ag-ement, until the battle of
White Plains, in which he was killed, October
28, 1776.

My maternal g-randfather, Phillip Perry,
from whom I was named, served as a Lieuten-
ant in the Revolutionary war. He owned a
small farm in Arlington, Vermont, and in
the summer of 1777 obtained leave of absence
and returned home to secure his crops. His
nearest neig-hbor was a Tory, Hazard Wilcox,
who became odious from a well grounded sus-
picion that he held secret communication with
the enemy. Between him and Lieutenant
Perry, however, no differences had been suf-
fered to disturb their mutual friendship.

181

During- the season they "chang-ed work,"
assisting- each other in harvesting*.

Thus they spent a day in mowing- for Lieu-
tenant Perry. Sometime the following- nig-ht
a number of neig-hbors came to the house, and
calling- Lieutenant Perry, asked assistance in
the apprehension of Wilcox. Lieutenant
Perry declined, alleging- the neig-hborly friend-
ship between himself and Wilcox, and urged
that others make the arrest. They, however,
insisted that he g-o with them, and knowing-
Wilcox oug-ht to be confined where he could
no long-er harm the American cause, by inter-
course with the foe. Lieutenant Perry yielded
reluctantly to their request. Wilcox had been
by some means warned, and with a bludgeon
in hand met the party at the door, declaring-
that he would kill the first man who set foot
upon the door-step. Lieut. Perry stepped
forward with the remark, "I do not wish to
harm you," when Wilcox felled him with a
blow across the chest. He was carried into
the house, Wilcox assisting-, cared for as well
as possible, and soon revived to consciousness,
seeing- which, Wilcox rejoiced, declaring- he
would not have struck Lieutenant Perry had
he not been enrag-ed. Lieutenant Perry re-
covered sufficiently to walk two or three times
across the room, when he suddenly stopped,
and with the words "I am a dead man," fell

182

lifeless to the floor. In the confusion Wilcox
escaped and tied to the British lines.

A few days afterwards Mrs. Wilcox paid
Mrs. Perry a friendly visit. For nearly an
hour both wept in silence, until at len<^th the
visitor left without a word having- been spoken,
by reason of their mutual sorrow. Wilcox
afterwards sent for his family, but the neig^h-
bors interfered and detained them. At leng-th
he came for them by nig-ht, and his neig-hbors
having- knowledg-e of his coming-, armed and
met him and at a g'iven sig-nal, fired, and Wil-
cox paid with his life the penalty for his
offense.

Lieutenant Perry left two daug-hters, the
eldest of whom was my mother. A few months
after, a third was added. His widow after-
wards married a Mr. Blair, of Benning-ton,
Vermont, who having- died, she subsequently
married a Mr. Duell, of Cambridg-e, Washing--
ton county. New York, from which place they
removed to Shaftesbury, Vermont, where she
died.

This is as far back as I am now able to trace
my ancestry.

When I was quite young- my parents moved
from Benning-ton to Whitestown, now West
Moreland, Oneida county. New York. Here,
my father purchased a tract of wild land, on
which the villag-e of Clark's Mills now stands.

183

That section of country was then new, but be-
ing- rapidly settled. About a month after
their arrival, an incident occurred of which,
on account of the alarm it caused us, I still
retain a distinct recollection.

The house occupied by my father stood near
the Oriskany creek. A little east of the house
was a road throug-h the woods in a south-
easterly direction, on which about one hundred
rods from my father's lived a Mr. Simeon
Fillmore, an uncle of President Millard Pill-
more. Prom Pillraore's, one road ran south
to Clinton, and another, through a larg-e
marsh, to intersect the first named road, half
a mile east of father's. Near this point re-
sided a family named Barker. A few rods
west of father's across the Oriskany, lived a
Mr. Stillman. The triangular space within
these three roads was a dense forest.

One evening- in April, our family were
alarmed by a strang-e noise, loud and shrill, a
wailing- cry, kept up at intervals, apparently
proceeding- from the swamp. It was evidently
the cry of a man in distress, or the decoy of a
hung-ry panther. The woods were then full
of Indians and wild beasts. After listening-
for some time, father went to Mr. Stillman's
and persuaded his son to accompany him on
the hazardous enterprise of ascertaining* the
cause of the outcry.

184

The nitrht was very chirk. One carried a
lantern and the other an axe, the only weapon
in their possession. They proceeded to Fill-
more's who with his family had fastened their
house and retired for the ni^-ht. They had
heard the cry and being- unable to determine
whether it proceeded from civilized man, sav-
ag-e, or wild beast, were greatly alarmed.
Fillmore refused to accompany them or even
to open his door long- enoug-h for them to enter
his house.

The cry continued and my father and Still-
man proceeded alone. When within about
twenty rods of the place from which the noise
came, they stopped and called. The cry
ceased, but they g-ot no response. Standing-
in anxious silence till it was repeated, they ad-
vanced and once more called. Ag-ain it ceased;
and ag-ain they stood till it was resumed; then
cautiously proceeding-, by the dim lig-ht of
their lantern, they described a man lying- in a
pool of water. It was he who had made the
nig-ht hideous wdth his outcries. On speaking*
to him, he became quiet, but made no reply.
He was too drunk to extricate himself; and
but for the timely assistance rendered, must
have perished in the long-, cold night. They
took him to Mr. Barker's, w^here he was kindly
cared for.

During- this transaction, my mother was left

REV. PHILLIP PERRY BROWN,

BETSY DICKEY.
MRS. PHILLIP PERRY BROWN

A. J. BROWN

WILBUR M. BROWN

REV. WILLIAM BROWN

PHILLIP PERRY BROWN. JR.

Colonel 157th New York Infantry, and of 7th Regt. Hancock's Veteran Reserve

Corps. Brevt. Brigadier General U. S. Volunteers 1 862- 1 865.

185

alone with two small children. I still recol-
lect that I felt safe when I could hide my face
under my mother's apron.

My father lived in this vicinity until the
spring- of 1804, when he removed to the town
of Augusta where he purchased a tract of wild
land, about half a mile east of the present site
of the "Mile Strip School House," the place
now ow^ned and occupied by a Mr. Powers.
Then in my fourteenth year, I assisted in
clearing- the land, for cultivation.

My education, commenced at Whitestown,
was continued in our new home and was con-
fined to the common school, in which reading-,
writing-, spelling- and arithmetic were taught.
Althoug-h I subsequently acquired the habit
of speaking- extemporaneously with consider-
able g-rammatical accuracy, I never studied
g-rammar, until the last winter of my attend-
ance, at which time it was introduced into the
public schools.

Until their removal to Aug-usta, my parents
trained their children to a strict observance
of the Sabbath; and so far as possible, to at-
tendance on public w^orship. Both were of
good moral principles; though neither pro-
fessed religion. My mother, however, was
religiously inclined. Shortly after my con-
version, she also obtained hope. We were

18()

baptized on the same day and at the same
place.

On September 27th, 180*), I married Miss
Betsy Dickey who was also a resident of
Augfusta.

In 1813 I removed to Smithfield, near
Siloam, and for three years was eno-ag-ed with
a partner (Daniel Dickey, Esq., my brother-
in-law,) in supplying- sand for two g-lass fac-
tories near Peterboro, furnishing- three thous-
and bushels per year washed and delivered
ready for use.

We procured the sand from Stockbridg-e
valley. While in this occupation the battle of
Osweg-o occurred. That was before the ag-e
of steam and teleg-raph; and we knew nothing*
of the eng-ag-ement until several days after-
wards. But while shoveling- sand one day, we
heard a noise resembling- distant thunder.
The sky was cloudless and we suspected it to
be the roar of cannon far away. To satisfy
ourselves we drove a wooden stake into the
gfround; and on applying- the ear to it, readily
recog-nized the report of distant artillery.
For a time the discharg-es were very rapid;
but atleng-th g-radually became less frequent.
We thoug-ht it was the thunder of battle, and
several days afterward learned that the battle
of Osweg-o occurred on the very day and hour
that we heard the reports, May 6, 1814. We

187

were distant from Osweg-o about fifty-five
miles. In October, 1814, when great alarm
was felt for the safety of Sackets Harbor, and
laro-e numbers of the Militia were called out
to assist in its defense, I with many of my
neighbors was summoned, and answered the
call. I was soon taken sick, however, and as
the only means of saving- my life, was per-
mitted by General Cleveland to return home.

Having- been broug-ht up a farmer, on the
fulfillment of the sand contract referred to, I
resumed that pursuit in the vicinity of my
new home, and continued it several years.

In the summer of 1811, at a time when there
was no special religious awakening- my mind
became much affected and very tender in view
of ray hopeless condition as a sinner. What
circumstances or human instrumentality led
to this solicitude I do not now remember. I
felt a strong- conviction that the appointed
time had come to carry out my long- cherished
intention to seek Christ and secure the salva-
tion of my soul.

At the ag-e of twenty-one I found hope in the
mercy of the Saviour. I had always from my
childhood intended to become a Christian,
whenever I should find what I raig-ht esteem a
favorable time.

The exceeding- preciousness of the g-ospel
and the nearness of God inflamed my soul with

188

a holy love. Hence arose my impression of
duty to publish the gfospel to my fellow men.
The love of Christ constrained me.

On the 29th of September, 1811, I was bap-
tized by Elder Salmon Morton into the fellow-
ship of the Baptist Church in Madison. My
mother and Mrs Polly Howard (wife of
Charles Howard) were baptized on the same
occasion. I had not yet disclosed to any per-
son my conviction of duty to enter the min-
istry. After my removal to Smithfield I
lived a number of years in a state of relig^ious
torpidity, "cold," backward, "in the dark,"
and in general neglect of religious duties.
Occasionally, however, a few rays of divine
light and comfort would be shed abroad in my
soul. At such times my mind would be deep-
ly exercised with a sense of duty to preach
the gospel to my fellow men. Always refus-
ing to comply with this conviction of duty, re-
ligious gloom and depression would invariably
succeed.

I sought pardon and peace in vain. I prom-
ised the Lord, that if he would restore to me
the light of his countenance, I would no longer
refuse, if it were His will that I should preach.
In response the conviction became fastened
on my mind and remained constantly there,
that I had departed from my duty without
leave, and it was good enough for me to return

189

without help. One evening" on my way home
from meeting-, while reflecting- on my spiritual
state, I resolved in my heart that without
waiting- long-er I would commence preaching- at
the first opportunity which should occur. The
duty was so plain to my mind, and I had al-
ready neg-lected it so long- with the vain hope
of recovering- lost graces before making the
attempt, I would delay no long-er, but casting-
myself on God, would do his bidding- to the
best of my ability. No sooner was this reso-
lution fairly formed than my spiritual dark-
ness was dissipated and my soul once more
became unclouded and joyful. With submis-
sion I had recovered the long- sought light and
peace. My wife had already been converted
in a revival, and on the following- Sabbath,
February 27, 1820, was baptized by Elder
Dyer D. Ransom. In the evening- of the same
day, a conference meeting- was held at the
house of Mr. Parkhurst in Siloam Before it
commenced, Deacon Sloan took me aside, told
me that he was convinced that it was my duty
to preach, and urg-ed me to make trial of my
g-ift that evening-. I dared not refuse, though
it was with great reluctance and trembling-
that I consented. The house was crowded.
After a few explanatory remarks by Deacon
Sloan, I read my text "I also will show mine

190

opinion," Job 32: 10, and preached as well as
I could.

Elder Ransom was then eng-aj^ed as pastor
of the Church, to preach to them every other
Sabbath for one year. The Church subse-
quently approved my ofift, and still later voted
me a letter of license to preach the <^ospel
wherever an opportunity occurred, at the
same time inviting- me to preach to them on
such Sabbaths as Elder Ransom was not with
them, to which I acceeded. On the expiration
of Elder Ransom's term of service, I was
chosen his successor, to preach every Sab-
bath. I continued to labor here for more than
eig"ht years. My salary, on paper, rang-ed
from S35.00 to $75.00 per annum; but I never
in any one year received more than SIO.OO in
money.

Of late years my wife has frequently stated
that for one year's service all I received was a
quarter of mutton; but this, if a fact, has
long- since passed from recollection.

So much of the balance as was ever paid was
rendered in produce.

At the commencement of my labors with
this Church, my family consisted of four child-
ren, which number was increased to seven be-
fore I left. These I was compelled to support
mainly by manual labor. To do this, required
my utmost exertions throug-h the week, leav-

191

ing- but little time for study or pastoral duties.
While at work I would think over the sub-
stance of m}^ sermons for the following- Sab-
bath; and at evening-, frequently by the lig-ht
of a pine knot torch, would eng-ag-e in the
study of the Scriptures.

In the autumn of 1821 I received ordination.
The Council was larg-e for those times, and
consisted of eig-ht ministers, and deleg-ates
from seven Churches. The ministers in at-
tendance were: Nathaniel Cole, Moderator;
Frederick Freeman, Clerk; Obed Warren,
Dyer D. Ransom, Calvin Philho, Randolph
Streeter, Nathaniel Otis and Nathan Peck.
The last named subsequently fell from the
ministry. The Council convened October 17,
at the house of Amos Bridg-e. After the
usual manner I related my Christian exper-
ience, my spiritual exercises in reference to
preaching- the g-ospel, and my views of Scrip-
ture doctrine. About an hour after Council
had retired for a private session, the Moder-
ator came to me with a request that I would
preach before the Council; adding- that one
member of it, Elder Phillio, declined to ac-
quiesce in my ordination unless he could first
hear me. This was soon after the "School of
the Prophets," now Madison University, had
been instituted at Hamilton; and Elder Phillio
was an earnest advocate of Ministerial Educa-

102

tion. His objections to my ordination were
said to arise from his fears that I, having- but
a common school education, mi<jfht be too illit-
erate to preach. Most of the Council had al-
ready heard me preach, but he had not. The
Moderator and other friends advised me to
comply with the request and make the attempt
at once. I consented. They g-ranted me fif-
teen minutes in which to prepare. I walked
in meditation into a field as far as I could g-o
in half the time, and then returned. The
house was full of people. I announced for
my text the words of the Saviour, "Behold,
I send you forth as lambs among- wolves."
Luke 10: 3. The announcement of the text
called a smile to the countenance of many of
the audience, especially of the ministers pres-
ent. I spoke: First. Of the helplessness of
the ministry, "as lambs." Second. Their
dang-ers; ''among- wolves;" arising-, first, from
foes without the fold; and second, from false
brethren within the fold. Third. The en-
courag-ement received from the Great Shep-
herd. This subject arose entirely new in my
mind after I had consented to preach. The
Council afterwards unanimously agreed to
proceed to ordination. The services were
held on the following- day in the meeting- house
at Siloam, then in an unfinished condition;
Elder Nathaniel Cole preached from the words

193

"Let a man so account of us as of the minis-
ters of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries
of God." I Cor. 4: 1.

A few weeks after, I chanced to meet Elder
Phillio at a Ministerial Conference in Penner.
After I had preached there also, he remarked
to me, "Well, brother Brown, I think you will
be able to preach, Let me give you a word of
advice. Never attempt to say all you can on
any subject at any one time; and when you get
throug-h, always stop." These hints were
beneficial to me in subsequent years; and
might be observed wnth benefit by some in the
ministry at the present day.

Not long afterwards the meeting house at
Siloam was completed. It consisted only of
an audience room without vestibule or galler-
ies, thirty by forty feet, closely seated; and
during my continuance as pastor there, was
generally well filled with hearers on the
Sabbath.

I had no theological instructor, no library
save a Bible, a Watt's Hymn Book, and a
pocket edition of Brown's Concordance. With
these simple aids I spent the next two years
in studying the Scriptures and committing
them to memory. In doing this, I so far neg-
lected secular pursuits that, wnth my very in-
adequate salary, I expended nearly all my per-
sonal property, including my only cow^ and a

V

span of horses, in tlie support of my family.

At leno-th I was aroused as from an enchant-
ment, to a sense of the condition of mv family,
and hired myself to one of the deacons of the
Church, to assist in carpenter work, for sev-
enty-live cents per day. I labored for him
thirty days, in which time I mastered the
rudiments of the trade sufficiently to com-
mence the business as a workman. While I
remained here, about six years, I labored at
this trade through the summer seasons, build-
ing- barns, houses and mills. Three winters I
took charge of a saw mill; the other winters I
chopped and drew wood to market, boiled pot-
ash, etc., preaching every Sabbath. My labors
were very severe; I had no rest except occas-
sionally on a stormy day. Sabbaths were the
most laborious and fatiguing of all.

During my stay with these people I attended
many funerals to which I frequently traveled
five or six miles on foot, sometimes going di-
rectly from my work, and returning to it again
the same day. As these services were never
rewarded, they only increased my pecuniary
embarrassments.

Duri.ng this pastorate the Church and com-
munity were blest with only one general re-
vival of religion. I preserved no record of my
labors or their results while there, and can
now give but few items from memory. Dur-

195

inof the six years that I remained after I was
ordained the pastor, I baptized sixty or more
persons. Universalism and drunkenness pre-
vailed there to a great extent, making- the field
peculiarly hard for spiritual culture, and ren-
dering* my labors almost as barren of moral
as of financial fruits.

My third son, William, was converted and
baptized at the age of ten years. He subse-
quently entered the ministry, in which his
labors have been crowned with many blessings
and tokens of the Master's approval.

Early in 1831 I took him to the Literary and
Theological Institution at Hamilton, to be ed-
ucated for the ministry, and, as was supposed
for the work of a foreign missionary. He was
my only child then converted. Deacon Olm-
sted adopted him into his family as a bene-
ficiary and protege during his educational
course. To give him up caused me a severe
struggle. When I had taken him there, and
was returning home, my mind was so deeply
absorbed in reflection on the subject, as to be
almost wholly insensible to everything else.
I earnestly longed and prayed that God would
give me another of my children born anew into
the kingdom of grace, to take his place. To
the praise of the riches of His grace, I have
to record that within six months he gave me

three, and still others before I removed from
the town.

The revival spirit at no time f(-r.-^v)ok us,
conversions bein^r frequent; and ai)out 1833,
another considerable revival occurred. Dur-
int)- the first five \'ears of this pastorate, I
baptized one hundred and twenty-six, most
of whom had been converted under my
ministry.

During- this pastorate of seven years, and
the five vears next following-, besides dis-
charg-ing- my pastoral duties I labored in sev-
enty or eig-hty protracted meeting-s. In these
meeting's m}^ labors extended from Albany to
Cayug-a Lake, and from the northern bound-
ary of Oneida county to central Pennsylvania.

The young-est person converted, of whom I
had any knowledg-e was my son Perry, then
in his eigfhth year- The chief instrument of
his conversion was a pious lady school teacher.
He was so small as to find it necessary to
stand on a seat or bench while he related his
experience to the Church a few months after-
wards. The conversion of children, now so
common, was then a rare event, and g-enerally
reg-arded with a degree of distrust bordering-
on incredulity. Owing to his youthfulness
both his mother and I were reluctant to con-
sent to his baptism. On many occasions he
manifested an earnest wish to receive the or-

197

dinance. On returning- from school one day,
he said, "Mother, when you will let me be
baptized, my mind will be easy." We inter-
posed no further objections. Not long- after
this he related his experience before the
Church for baptism. I subjected him, in their
presence, to a ri^id examination. Among-
other questions, I asked:

"Why do you want to be baptized?"

"Because Christ was baptized, and I want
to follow him," was his reply.

"Would you not rather be sprinkled, than
g-o into the water?"

"No sir. The Saviour was baptized in the
river, and I want to do as he did."

These and many similar replies were wholly
of his own mind. All my objections were re-
moved; and the Church received and I bap-
tized him.

During- my pastorate at Augusta, one win-
try day, brother Eden Green, whom I had
baptized from the Cong-reg-ational Church,
and my son Perry, were removing- ice from
the stream preparatory for baptism, when
Rensselaer Wickham, a rather eccentric,
quick-spoken man, a member of the Cong-re-
g-ational Church, chanced to pass the place,
and beg-an some trifling- raillery on their em-
ployment, inquiring- if John had to cut the ice
from Jordan, etc. They, in turn, asked for

198

his Scripture proofs of infant baptism. "Well,
said he, in his sputtering- manner of speech,
"I don't know as there are any; but it does
seem as if the poor little thintrs outrht to have
something- done for 'em."

In June, 1853, failing- health compelled me
reluctantly to retire from the active duties
of the ministry. I therefore resig-ned my
charg-e, and removed my family, now consist-
ing- of myself and wife, to Clinton, where I
had a son-in-law residing-.

I still continued to preach occasionally as
circumstances required, and my health en-
abled me.

In the following- February I removed to
Madison, my former home, and purchased a
house and a few acres of land, in the cultiva-
tion of which I spent most of my time for sev-
eral years.

While living- here I preached for a few
months as supply to the Church in Aug-usta,
now reduced to a small and feeble band. This
was the last reg-ular preaching* they ever had,
and not long- afterwards the Church formally
disbanded.

Two years after my removal to Madison I
sold my place there and w^ent to Hamilton,
where my son Perry was living-. (Profes-
sor P. P. Brown, Jr., Madison University),
with whom I boug-ht and occupied a home.

199

While living- here I supplied the Church in
Erieville for eleven months, at which place
with my wife I spent the winter of 1856-7.

In the spring- of 1858 I was recalled to Mad-
ison, after the resignation of Rev. L. C. Bates,
and for the second time accepted the pastoral
care of the Church which I retained for three
years, when under the accumulated infirmi-
ties of ag-e and disease — having- now reached
my seventieth year — on the first of March,
1860, I was succeeded by my son-in-law. Rev.
Carlos Swift, in whose family we spent the
following- summer, in the old parsonage which
had twice been our home. I finished my sec-
ond pastorate in Madison just forty years
from the day I preached my first sermon, and
preached my last farewell — the closing- up of
my ministerial life— from the same text I used
on that occasion.

During- this summer I preached two or three
months to the Church in Stockbridge. The
first of October following-, I returned to Ham-
ilton, and ag-ain lived in the house which I
jointly owned and occupied with my son
Perry. Here, eig-hteen months later, on April
2, 1862, my wife, after a very painful but brief
illness of two weeks, ended a laborious, self-
denying-, exemplary and useful life. We had
traveled life's journey pleasantly tog-ether for
fifty-two years. On the following- Sunday,

200

the sixth, her funeral was attended in Madi-
son, whither we carried her remains. The
sermon was by Professor E. DodiJfe, of Madi-
son University, from Heb. 4:'). (Now, March
^), 1872, and for some time past, President of
the University). We buried her in the grave-
yard on the "Indian Opening-," near the for-
mer site of the old Baptist meeting-house, be-
tween Madison and Solsville, where sleep
many of the friends and associates of our early
years, and where I wish my own dust at last
to be laid.

CHILDREN OF REV. PHILLIP PERRY AND
BETSY DICKEY BROWN.

Ha r ley Philander': was born in Augusta,
July 26, 1810; was twice married, and died at
Rapids City, Illinois, May 31, 1863. A few
years before his death he was hopefully con-
verted and closed his life as an exemplary and
highly esteemed minister of a Campbellite
Church.

Charles Edzviyi: was born at Augusta, Feb-
ruary 23, 1813. (His life is given in an auto-
biography in this book.)

William: was born in Smithfield, January 1,
1816.

He became a Christian in childhood and
went, when fourteen years of age, to Hamilton

201

to attend the Literary and Theolog-ical Insti-
tute, becoming- a member of the family of Dea-
con Olmsted, where he was boarded for such
service as he could give, out of school hours.

Evenings, studying- his lesson in Greek, his
position was "sixth from the candle."

His mother said of him, "William was al-
ways a g-ood boy."

He was ordained to the ministry in 1837,
and offered his services as a foreig-n mission-
ary, but for want of funds in the treasury of
the missionary board, was not sent.

His life work was as pastor of Baptist
Churches in New York — in Richfield, New-
port, Eaton, Pittsford, Hartford, St. Edward
and Rockwood, from 1837 to 1869.

In 1837 he was married to Miss Louisa E.
Wrig-ht, at Westford.

In 1869 his health failed and he g-ave up his
pastoral work and started west in the hope of
reg-aining- it. Stopping- at New Hartford with
Dr. and Mrs. Griswold, old time friends, he
suddenly became worse and died Aug-ust 9,
1869, and was buried at Newport.

He was a man of superior ability as a min-
ister, of a g-enial, kindly and sociable disposi-
tion; beautifully sincere and earnest in his
work, and was remarkably successful in re-
storing- harmony and reuniting* Churches in
which discord and dissention had arisen.

202

Of four children, two sons and two daiij^fh-
ters, two are livin<i|-, at present, 1%7. Mrs.
Lewis E. (Turley, at Troy, New York, and
Mrs. Frank H. Woodworth, at San Dieg-o,
California.

Phillip Perry Brozun, Jr. Sketch of his life,
from an Obituary, published in a St. Louis
paper at the time of his death in that city in
April, 1881.

*'The Second Baptist Church of St. Louis,
has met with a great loss in the recent death
of General Brown. Born in Smithiield, New
York, October 8, 1823, reared in a Christian
home, at the ag-e of eig-ht years he was bap-
tized into the fellowship of the Baptist church,
by his honored father, Rev. P. P. Brown, so
well remembered in Central New York. In
the covenant meeting- preceding- his death,
General Brown rose and with much feeling-
said, "This is my jubilee; for fifty years I
have been a member of a Baptist church, and
can remember no life outside of it."

At an early ag-e he eng-ag-ed in teaching- in
his native State, but his health failing-, he
went to Kentucky, where he soon recovered
his health and resumed his profession. In
December, 1845, he married Miss Sarah Jack-
son, of Louisville, Kentucky, who with two
children survives him. Soon after his mar-
riag-e he went to the Indian Territory, under

203
the auspices of the Southern Indian Mission
Board, and took charg-e of Armstrong- Acad-
emy, a school for the Choctaws. For five
years he labored with g-reat success as teach-
er and missionary, and translated the greater
part of the New Testament into the Choctaw
lang-uage. These were years of joy to his
heart, and many were broug-ht to Christ
throug-h his efforts. In April, 1851, he re-
sig-ned and accepted the Principalship of the
Preparatory Department of Shurtleff Colleg-e,
Alton, Illinois, in order that he mig-ht at the
same time pursue his studies in the Colleg-e,
and then return to the Indians better fitted for
his work. But his wish was not realized, for
in May, 1853, he returned to New York and
entered Madison University in the third term
of Sophomore year, at the same time contin-
uing- his work as teacher in the Grammar
School.

He g-raduated in 1855 and was principal of
the University Grammar school until Aug-ust,
1862, when he became Colonel of the One Hun-
dred and Fifty-seventh New York Infantry.
He commanded his regiment at Gettysburg-,
in the First Brig-ade, Third Division, Eleventh
Army Corps, under Major General Carl
Schurz, the first day, and Major General O.
O. Howard, the second and third days of the
battle.

204

In 18()5 he was appointed Colonel of the
Seventh Reo^iment of Hancock's Veteran Re-
serve Corps, and commanded the Military
Post at Philadelphia. He was breveted Bri*^^-
adier General, for gallant and meritorious ser-
vices and tendered an appointment as Colonel
in the Regular Army at the close of the war.
This he declined, preferring- the pursuits of
civil life, and in 1866 he came to Saint Louis
and engaged in business.

General Brown was an accurate scholar and
a deep thinker. Thoroughly rooted in the
truths of the gospel, it was his constant aim
to exemplify them in his life. He was pre-
eminently a pure man, no unchaste word ever
escaping his lips. He carried into mature
years the sweet sincerity of childhood, and his
whole deportment w^as that of a Christian gen-
tleman. It was his special work to labor for
the good of young men, of whom he was par-
ticularly fond, and who returned his affection
with their fullest confidence. Por years he
stood in the vestibule of the Second church
that he might welcome young men who were
strangers in the city, and make them feel at
home in God's house, and many such have been
brought to Christ and saved from the perils
of a great city by his kind, w^ise counsel. In
every department of church work he was an
efficient helper and counsellor.

205

Thoug-h firmly trusting- in Christ as a per-
sonal Saviour, the fear of death at times
greatly troubled him; but as he entered the
valley of the shadow, to his pastor he said:
"All fear of death is o-one; the way is brig-ht;
I am happy." Two hours later he fell quietly
asleep in Jesus.

Into the church, where his presence had so
long- been a benediction, his remains were
borne by the strong- arms of young- men whom
he loved and who loved him, on Sunday after-
noon, April 10th, and appropriate services
were conducted by Dr. Schofield and the pas-
tor, in the presence of a larg-e and tearful as-
sembly. We laid his body to rest in the beau-
tiful city of the dead, where soon a monument
to his memory will be erected by the young-
men of the Second Church."

Adonircui Judson Brozvu'. was born in Smith-
field, March 7, 1826. In 1845 he came to Iowa,
joining- his brother Charles, at LeClaire. He
beg-an teaching- school when sixteen years of
ag-e, in New York, and taug-ht in Iowa three
years when he first came west. He owned
and operated the ferry across the Mississippi
between LeClaire and Port Byron, beg-inning-
with a flat boat which had to be rowed by hand
until a horse power boat could be built.

While teachino-, one of his scholars was

200

ISIiss Paulina Rowe, a ver\' l)ri<4ht, handsome
and attractive little woman, who became his
wife in 1847.

In 1S50 he put up a l)uildin*^- in Port Byron
near the ferry landini^f, and opened a small
store. Later he and William H. Devore
formed a partnership under the firm name of
Brown and Devore, doino^ a general mercan-
tile business, on quite a lar«-e scale, operating"
a flouring- mill, packing pork, and handling-
coal for the Mississippi river steam-boats.
They did a large business, furnishing- sup-
plies for Minnesota and Wisconsin lumber-
men on the upper Mississippi and tributaries.

He w^as a very capable business man, indus-
trious, methodical and systematic, of hig-h
character. What he said could always be de-
pended on. Brow^n and Devore carried on a
successful, prosperous business w^hile others
failed. Mr. Brown was a good neighbor, kind
and obliging, a public spirited citizen, and a
model husband and father. He contracted
consumption and died at Port Byron, Illinois,
February 11, 1864.

Wilbur Mission Broxvn: was born in Au-
gusta, July 2, 1833. Educated at Madison
University, Hamilton, New York, graduating-
in 1856. Read law with Goodwin and Mitchell
at Hamilton and later wnth Pratt and Mitchell

207

at Syracuse, becoming- a member of the firm
of Pratt, Mitchell and Brown, who were for
many years prominent and leading- lawyers
of Central New York. He was a fine speaker.
Close attention to business undermined his
health and he was an invalid for years before
his death, w^hich occurred at Syracuse, Jan-
uary 27, 1898, unmarried, leaving- property to
the amount of nearly two hundred thousand
dollars to his relatives and friends. He was
a man of superior ability, a tireless worker,
genial, kindly, g-enerous and sociable, stand-
ing- hig-h in his profession, of high character
personally and professionally.

Sarah: w^as born in Smithfield, May 30, 1818.
She was married, February 10, 1841, at Mad-
ison, New York, to Emerson Brown, of Litch-
field. Thoug-h of the same name, her husband
was not related to our family. For nine years
after marriag-e her husband lived in Utica,
working- at his trade as a mason. They then
went to Litchfield, and boug-ht the old family
homestead, where she passed the remainder
of her life, and died October 2, 1879. She was
an earnest devoted Christian woman, a faith-
ful Church worker, and a loving- wife, mother
and home maker.

An7i: was born in Smithfield, October 22,
1820. She was married to Dr. A. K. White,
of Smyrna, who died a year later.

208

She went to Kentucky as a teacher, and in
1850 was married to William Kelly, of Hop-
kinsville, a Kentucky ])lanter, who died Jan-
uary 3, 1864, leaving- her for the second time
a widow and childless.

Mr. Kelly was a slave holder of the Shelby-
St. Clare type described by Mrs. Stowe in
Uncle Tom's Cabin. With his wnfe he visited
her familv in New York State in 1853. These
relatives were nearly all radical Abolitionists,
and an actual livinof and breathino- owner and
holder of slaves, was to them something- ab-
horrent. But Mr. Kelly's g-enial, courtly
manner disarmed hostility and made admiring-
friends of the members of the family whom he
met. Mrs. Kelly was a very capable, accomp-
lished woman She died at the home of her
brother, Charles, at Lime Spring's, Iowa, in
1871.

Elvira: was born at Smithfield, December 3,
1829. On January 6, 1852, she was married
at Holland Patent, New York, to the Rev.
Carlos Swnft, for many years a successful and
worthy pastor of Baptist Churches in New
York, Minnesota and Illinois.

Mrs. Swift was a zealous, earnest and de-
voted missionary worker, g-ifted with a fine
intellect, a winning- personalty and a pleasing-
voice; for many years Corresponding- Secre-

209

tary of the Women's Baptist Home Mission-,
ary Society, and was active and helpful in
establishing- the Women's Baptist Training-
School in Chicag-o.

She was a successful teacher of Men's Bible
Classes, often numbering- more than a hun-
dred members. The work she loved best,
was at the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicag-o,
which was g-enuinely Evang-elistic She was
loved, trusted and leaned upon by those as-
sociated with her in these fields of labor, and
now that ag-e and health no long-er permit pub-
lic work, she exemplifies the quiet g-races of a
Christian in the homes of her children.

Chaptick XVIII.

FAMILY RECORD OF CHARLES E. BROWN.

My grandfather, Nathaniel Brown, was
born in the town of Leicester, Massachusetts,
November 5, 1767. Died in Hainbur,i>-, Erie
county, New York, October 1, 1854.

My grandmother Brown, whose maiden
name was Anna Perry, was born in Vermont,
April 16, 1770. Died in the town of Augusta,
Oneida county. New York, February 4, 1826.

CHILDREN.

Sally, born in Bennington, Vermont, Jan-
uary 3, 1788. Died in Aug-usta, New York,
March 20, 1805.

Phillip Perry, (the name of his maternal
grandfather), born in Benning-ton, Vermont,
September 17, 1790. Died in Madison, New
York, September 23, 1876.

Nathaniel, born in the town of Kirkland,
Oneida county, New York, February 9, 1794.

[210]

211

Died in Manlius, Onondag^a county, New
York, April 24, 1852.

Polly, born in Kirkland, New York, July 31,
1797. Died in Hamburg-, New York, probably
1856.

Sophia, born in Kirkland New York, May

25, 1800. Died February 4, 1804.

William, born in Augusta, New York, April
5, 1803. Died in Eaton, New York, January
11, 1841.

Parley, born in Aug-usta, New York, Jan-
uary 20, 1806. Died in Augusta, September

26, 1826.

Rufus, born in Augusta, New York, Novem-
ber 8, 1808. Died in Solsville, about 1885.

My mother, Betsy Dickey, was born in
Wethersfield, Vermont, October 23, 1788.
She had four brothers, Joseph, William, Dan-
iel, and Adam, and one sister, all born in
Wethersfield, Vermont. All died in the State
of New York except Adam, who died in Iowa.

Phillip Perry Brown and Betsy Dickey were
married in Augusta, New York, September
27, 1809. My mother died in Hamilton, New
York, April 2, 1862.

212

RECORD OF THKIK CHILDREN.

Harley Philander — Born in Aut^usta, New
York, July 30, 1810. Died at Rapids City,
Illinois, May 31, 1863.

Charles Edwin — Born in Aiio-usta, New
York, February 23, 1813. Died at Ottumwa,
Iowa, July 23, 1901.

William — Born in Smithfield, New York,
January 1, 1816. Died at New Hartford, New
York, Aug-ust 9, 1869,

Sarah — Born in Smithfield, New York, May
30, 1818. Died in Litchfield, New York, Octo-
ber 2, 1879.

Ann — Born in Smithfield, New York, Octo-
ber 22, 1820. Died at Lime Springs, Iowa,
September 28, 1870.

Phillip Perry, Jr. — Born in Smithfield, New
York, October 8, 1823. Died in Saint Louis,
in April, 1881.

Adoniran Judson — Born in Smithfield, New
York, March 7, 1826, Died at Port Byron,
Illinois, February 11, 1864.

Elvira — Born in Smithfield, New York, Dec-
ember 3, 1829.

Wilbur M. — Born in Augusta, New York,
July 3, 1833. Died at Syracuse, New York,
January 27, 1898.

213

FAMILY RECORD OF MY WIFE, FRANCES LYON-

Benjamin Lyon — Born in Rhode Island,
April 5. 1770. Died in Russia, New York,
October 24, 1826.

Marg-aret Duncan — Born December 23, 1780.
Died in Openheim, New York, July 5, 1820.

Benjamin Lyon and Margaret Duncan were
married the seventh of May, 1801.

CHILDREN OF BENJAMIN LYON AND
MARGARET DUNCAN.

Charles W.— Born March 4, 1802, Died in
Watertown, New York, February, 1866.

Eleanor— Born March 20, 1803. Died in
March, 1806.

Julia Ann— Born June 5, 1804. Died Aug-
ust, 1865.

Eliza — Born September 30, 1806. Died
December, 1871.

Charlotte— Born September 29, 1808. Died
Aug-ust, 1829.

Mary— Born July 8, 1811. Died June, 1888.

Frances — Born April 15, 1813. Died June
12, 1887.

John — Born February 7, 1815. Died Dec-
ember, 1831.

214

Geor^re Duncan- Born February 20, 1817.
Died March, 1856.

Second marria^fe. Benjamin Lyon and Ros-
anna Hall were married in Russia, New York,
May 26, 1822.

CHILDREN.

Marg-aret M.— Born March 7, 1823. Died,
Muscatine, Iowa, Aug-ust 11, 1904.

Lucretia Caroline— Born October 19, 1824.

Benjamin and Elisha (twins) — Born July 17,
1826.

Charles E. Brown and Prances Lyon were
married at Little Falls, New York, Septem-
ber, 26, 1838.

FAMILY OF CHARLES E. AND FRANCES
LYON BROWN.

Benjamin Perry — Born in Norway, Herki-
mer county. New York, July 30, 1839. Died,
by drowning, near Maquoketa, Iowa, June 20,

1848.

The following- extract is from the record in
the family Bible, in father's hand writing:

"Benjamin Perry Brown was drowned in

215

the Maquoketa river near Maquoketa, Jackson
county, Iowa, June 20, 1848.

"On the morning- of the day on which he
was drowned, he read with his parents and
young-er brother the first chapter of Mark."

"When floating on Life's troubled sea
By storms and tempests driven,

Hope with her radiant finger points
To brighter scenes in Heaven."

"She bids the anguished heart rejoice,

Though earthly ties are riven,
W^e still may hope to meet again

In yonder peaceful Heaven."

At the instance of his mother this verse
was cut on his tomb stone:

"Shed not for him the bitter tear;

Or give the heart to vain regret,
'Tis but the casket that lies here;

The gem that filled it, sparkles yet."

Charles Perry — Born in Warren, Herkimer
county. New York, October 30, 1840.

James DeGrush — Born in LeClaire town-
ship, Scott county, Iowa, February 9, 1846.

Georg-e Lyon and William Carlos, (twins),

216

Born in Norway, Herkimer county, New York,
July 29, 1853. Georg-e L died from injuries
received while couplino" cars at St. Paul Junc-
tion, Minnesota, September 1, 1871.

DEATHS.

Rev. Charles E. Brown, born February 23,
1813. Died July 23, 1901.

Prances Lyon Brown, born April 15, 1813.
Died June 12, 1887.

MARRIAGES OF CHILDREN

Charles Perry Brown and Miss Adeline P.
Fall, married by me, at Vernon Springs,
Howard county, Iowa, Aug-ust 30, 1866.

James DeGrush Browm and Miss Ella T.
Dye, at Owatonna, Minnesota, married by Rev.
Enoch Dye, on May 13, 1874.

William Carlos Brown and Miss Mary Ella
Hewitt, married by meat Lime Springs, How-
ard county, Iowa, June 3, 1874.

In 1875 three grand-children, all daughters,
were born, one in each family.

Virinie F., to James and Ella, at Lime
Springs, Iowa, on April 5.

Georgia Frances, to Will and Mary Ella, at
Wilton, Iowa, July 23.

217

Edith Adeline, to Charles and Addie, at Ot-
tumwa, Iowa, Aug-ust 3.

FAMILY RECORD OF CHARLES PERRY BROWN.

Charles Perry Brown, born October 30,
1840, in the town of Warren, in Herkimer
county. New York.

Adeline Phoebe Fall, born near Beloit,
Wisconsin, February 10, 1849.

Charles Perry Brown and Miss Adeline
Phoebe Fall were married Aug-ust 30, 1866, at
Vernon Spring-s, Howard county, Iowa, by
Rev. Charles E. Brown.

CHILDREN OF CHARLES PERRY AND ADELINE
FALL BROWN.

Frances Lyon, born at Cresco, Iowa,
October 6, 1868; died at McGreg-or, Iowa,
Aug-ust 31, 1869, and buried in the family
lot of Rev. Georg-e W. Fall at Cresco, Iowa.

Benjamin Perry, born at McGreg-or,
Iowa, December 11, 1869.

Charles Edwin, born at Ottumwa, Iowa,
November 9, 1872, and died there October 14,
1874.

218

Edith Adeline, horn at Ottumwa, Iowa,
Auo;-ust 3, 1875; died at the Glockner Sani-
tarium, Colorado Springrs, Colorado, June 6,
1893.

Louise Fall, born at Ottumwa, Iowa, Jan-
uary 28, 1881.

MARRIAGES OF CHILDREN AND BIRTH OF
GRAND-CHILDREN.

Benjamin Perry Brown and Miss Laura
Kendall, were married at Ottumwa, Iowa, May
8, 1895, by Rev. L. F. Berry.

CHILDREN OF BENJAMIN P. AND LAURA
K. BROWN.

Prances, born at Ottumwa, Iowa, March 4,
1897.

Mary Louise, born at Ottumwa, Iowa, Aug"-
ust 20, 1905.

Louise Fall Brown and Lester M. Linton
were married May 2, 1905, at Ottumwa, Iowa,
by Rev. P. A. Johnson.

DEATHS.

Adeline Fall Brown, died at Boulder, Col-
orado, April 20, 1903.

219

Frances Lyon, died at McGregor, Iowa,
August 31, 1869.

Charles Edwin, died at Ottumwa, Iowa, Oct-
ober 14, 1874.

Edith Adeline, died at Colorado Springs,
Colorado, June 6, L893.

Prances Lyon is buried in the family lot of
her grandfather. Rev. George W. Fall, in the
Cresco cemetery.

Adeline Fall Brown, Charles Edwin and
Edith Adeline, are buried in the family lot in
the Ottumwa cemetery, at Ottumwa, Iowa.

FAMILY RECORD OF JAMES D. BROWN.

James D. Brown was born near LeClaire,
Scott county, Iowa, February 9, 1846.

Ella T. Dye was born at North Brookfield,
Madison county. New York, December 30,
1853.

James D. Brown and Miss Ella T. Dye were
married at Owatonna, in Steele county, Min-
nesota, May 13, 1874, by Rev. E. P. Dye,
father of the bride.

220

CHILDREN OF JAMES 1). AND ELI>A T.
DYE imoWN.

Vinnie Frances, born at Lime Sprin<rs, in
Howard county, Iowa, April 5, 1875.

Georg-e Edwin, horn at Tvime Sprintrs, Iowa,
May 30, 1876.

Frances Margaret, born at Lime Spring's,
Iowa, September 1, 1879. Died at Lime
Spring-s, Iowa, September 20, 1882.

Frank Log-an, born at Lime Spring's, Iowa,
January 29, 1887.

MARRIAGES OF CHILDREN AND BIRTH OF
GRAND-CHILDREN.

George Edwin Brown and Jennie Olivia
Johnson were married in Ottumwa, Iowa,
March 4, 1903, by Rev. F. G. Davies.

CHILDREN OF GEORGE EDWIN AND JENNIE
JOHNSON BROWN.

Lloyd William Brown, born March 2, 1904.
Marion Frances Brown, born April 24, 1906.

FAMILY RECORD OF WILLIAM C. BROWN.

William C. Brown, born at Norway, Her-
kimer county. New York, July 29, 1853.

221

Mary Ella Hewitt, born at McHenry, in
McHenry county, Illinois, July 19, 1854.

William C. Brown and Miss Mary Ella
Hewitt were married at Lime Springs, in
Howard county, Iowa, June 3, 1874, by Rev.
C. E. Brown.

CHILDREN OF WILLIAM C. AND MARY E.
HEWITT BROWN.

Georg-ia Prances, born at Wilton, Iowa,
July 23, 1875.

Charles Edwin, born at Burling-ton, Iowa,
September 11, 1877. Died at Lime Spring's,
Iowa, September 11, 1882.

Lura Belle, born at Lime Springs, Iowa,
July 17, 1880. Died at Beardstown, Illinois,
February 25, 1882.

Bertha Adelaide, born at Lime Spring-s,
Iowa, September 2, 1882.

Marg-aret Heddens, born at Saint Joseph,
Missouri, March 28, 1891.

MARRIAGES OF CHILDREN AND BIRTH OF
GRAND-CHILDREN.

Georg-ia Prances Brown and Dr. Prank

222

li^Uis Pierce, were married in Chicaj^'o, April
12, 1899. by Rev. Percival Mclntire.

CHILDREN OF DK. P^RANK E. AND GEORGIA
BROWN PIERCE.

William Brown Pierce, born in Chicag-o,
March 6, 1900.

John Henry Pierce, born in Chicaj^o, July
8, 1906.

Bertha Adelaide Brown and Dr. Kellog-g-
Speed, were married in Chicag-o, April 12,
1904, by Rev. John H. Hopkins.

CHILDREN OF DR. KELLOGG AND BERTHA
A. B. SPEED.

Bertha Brown Speed, born in Chicago,
October 8, 1905.

DEATHS OF CHILDREN OF WILLIAM C. AND
ELLA H. BROWN.

Lura Belle, died at Beardstown, Illinois,
February 25, 1882; and is buried in the family
lot at Lime Springs, Iowa.

Charles Edwin, died at Lime Springs, Iowa,
September 11, 1882; and is buried there in the
family lot in the cemetery.

^^ ■ ^

APPENDIX

RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT

BY THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OF
THE IOWA LEGISLATURE.

MEMORIAL ADDRESS

BY

REV. J. W. V/EDDELL, D. D.

OCTOBER 6, 1901.

AT CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH,

DAVENPORT, IOWA.

Letter from Wilbur M. Brown, referring
TO original edition of these recollections.

^'

JOURNAL OP THE HOUSE.

Halt, of the Hou.se oi" Representatives, /
Des Moines. Iowa, Thursday, February 13,1902. \

House met pursuant to adjournment, Speak-
er Eaton presiding-.

Prayer was offered by Rev. E. G. Beyer, of
Mavnard, Iowa.

report of committee appointed to draft RESOI.UTIONS
OF RESPECT TO THE MEMORY OF HON. CHAS. E. BROWN.

Mr. Speaker — Your committee appointed to draft reso-
lutions of respect to the niemor)' of the Hon. Charles E.
Brown, respectfully submit the following:

Whereas, Rev. Charles E. Brown, an honored mem-
ber of the Seventeenth General Assembly of Iowa from
Howard county, died in Ottumwa, July 23, 1901, and

Whereas, The life and character of the deceased were
such as to command our love and esteem, and his public
services to the state and countr3^ were of such distinction
as to demand the respect and gratitude of his fellow citi-
zens; therefore, be it

Resolved, That in his death the state has lost an able
conscientious citizen, a man who suffered the inconven-
ience of pioneer life in the cause of religion and state, that
we extend to his children our sincere sympathy in their
affliction.

Resolved, That these resolutions be entered in the Journ-

[21

al of the House, and the Chief Clerk of the House be in-
structed to present an engrossed copy thereof to his sons.

A. W. Buchanan,
W. K. Barker,
Raymond C. I^angan,

Committee.

Mr. Buchanan moved the adoption of the
report of the committee.

Adopted unanimously by rising- vote.

The following- speeches by Buchanan of
Wapello, Barker of Howard, Langan of
Clinton, on the death of Rev. Mr. Brown, were
ordered printed in the Journal on motion of
Warren of Marion.

Mr. Buchanan said:

Mr. Speaker — It is not the intention to take the time of
this House in a long- eulogy of the deceased. His life of
usefulness to the state should not be passed without some
little comment.

Charles E. Brown left his home in New York in 1842.
He came to the territory of Iowa as a pioneer missionary.
He was a man of excellent judgment, strong character,
and of a progressive nature, and could have attained a
high place in the commercial world, but preferred rather
to devote his life to the betterment of his fellow men. He
gained no great wealth, but was able to give his sons an
education that has given to the state men eminent in the
railroad and commercial world.

It was not my privilege to know the deceased personally;
coming to our city at the advanced age of over four score
years he made but few acquaintances, but those who knew
him well, held him in high esteem.

Being possessed of his full mental faculties he saw the
approaching end and was full of the faith, and died as he

had lived, belicvinfi;- if a man die he shall live aj,'-ain.
Mr. Speaker, I move the rules be suspended and this
resolution be adopted by a rising- vote.

Mr. Barker said:

Mr. Speaker— It is for us to pause a moment in our leg-
islative duties that our thoughts may revert to the early
pioneers of our state who have passed the way of all mor-
tality—that we may pay our tributes of respect to their
memory, their virtues, and their worth.

The life of the subject of these memorial resolutions was
measured by more than four score and eight years and
about half that long and useful life was passed in Howard
county.

It therefore seems proper that I, as the representative of
that county in this general assembly, should add my con-
tribution to his worth as a man and as a citizen of our
county and state.

Charles E. Brown was born in Oneida county, N. Y.,
February 23, 1813, and died in Ottumwa, July 23, 1901.

He studied for the ministry and was a graduate of Mad-
ison university. New York. He was married in 1838 to
Miss Frances Lyon, who was his companion for nearly
fifty years in his journey upon earth. Three sons survive
him, two of them being worthy citizens of Wapello county,
Iowa, and the third has gained a national reputation in
railroad circles by rising from the humble position of
brakeman to that of general manager of the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy railroad, and then vice-president of
the L^ake Shore & Michigan Southern railway, and is at
this time vice-president of the New York Central.

Soon after leaving college, the subject of these resolu-
tions concluded to devote his life to the service of his
fellowman as a missionary. Leaving his home of compar-
ative comfort in New York, he came west in 1842
and settled in the territory of Iowa about two miles from
Maquoketa, in Jackson county, and for the greater part of
the next twelve years he devoted his time to his work
among the early settlers, from Davenport northward to

Minnesota, facings the storms of winter among- the pioneers
with that tireless energy and zeal which was characteristic
of him in any cause he espoused.

At or about the organization of Howard county, he set-
tled there and was elected its first county superintendent
of schools.

He was also an active and an honored member of the
Seventeenth General Assembly, serving acceptably in that
body as representative of Howard county.

Throug-hout his life, whether in the cabin or more pre-
tentious dwelling-, he was always the same social, de-
vout Christian gentleman, practicing in his daily walk
those precepts he sought to inculcate in others. He was
intensely lo3'al and patiiotic and when his conclusions
were reached upon any subject, they were definite and
positive.

He advocated his religious and political opinions with
earnestness, sincerity, and fidelity, and he was never
vacilating or uncertain. He had a clear head and a strong
mind. He was never known to compromise with what he
believed to be a wrong.

In short, his life was spent in the service of mankind and
it was his greatest pleasure to aid in the uplifting of all
humanity and for those in affliction he was generous and
was ever ready with kindly sympathy and assistance.

When the infirmities of age were gathering about him,
when he realized his time on earth was short, without sick-
ness, without pain, and without a murmur, he folded his
hands across his breast and lapsed into that dreamless
sleep from which there is no awakening upon earth, but he
had an abiding faith and trust that, in a better world, he
would awaken in the likeness of his Master that he had
served so long and faithfully.

I second the motion of the gentleman from Wapello to
adopt the resolutions.

Mr. Lang-an said :

Mr. Speaker — A word and I am done.

I shall not attempt to give a biographical sketch of the

deceased, nor dwell at leii<j;^th upon his private or public
life. That has been done by those more intimate with him
than I. However, it should be an especial pleasure to every
young man to chronicle to the world some characteristics of
those who have lived long^ and served the interests of the
state well and good.

The subject of these resolutions, Rev. C. E. Brown, a
member of the Seventeenth General Assembly of Iowa,
settled in Jackson county, adjoining- my home county on
the north, some sixty years ago. In the wildnerness of
that county, with but the meager compensation of one hun-
dred dollars per year, he served the scattered population as
a missionary, administering to them the consolation of his
sacred calling. Coming from New York an educated
young man, possessing qualifications which would have
entitled him to recognition amid the environments of his
own state, he demonstrated his earnest and sacrificing
nature. The duties of his vocation were ever pleasant.
His labors for religion and state were ceaseless. While he
expounded the truths of the gospel from the rudely de-
vised and primitively constructed pulpit, he exemplified
good citizenship by his daily life. His unselfish spirit pre-
vailed through life. Death only could release him from his
cbosen work A few lines from his home paper tells the
reward of his beautiful life.

''Death came in his eighty-ninth year, July 23, 1901, at
Ottumwa, Iowa, from a gradual failing of his vital powers,
and the end was peaceful and painless."

What more in this world can we ask for than a happy
death at the completion of life's labors ?

Thus ended a man who made the world better for having
lived, better for having played a part on the stage of life.
Thus ended a pioneer, a type of man which from-
natural and apparent reasons, is rapidly passing away
Each general assembly records on its journal the names of
former members who are called to "the undiscovered
country, from whose bourne no traveler returns,"

Too much cannot be said of the man who braved the
vicissitudes which beset the path of the pioneer. No inco-

miutii expresses or contemplates the suffering endured
by him. The proud State of Iowa stands as a monument to
his labors. His work is a matter of history. Hardly had
the hand of the pioneer father felled the oak of the forests
and placed it as a log- of the sheltering- cabin till duty's
cause called a son to service on the battle field. Some re-
turned to enjoy the labor of the past, others sleep beneath
the g-round they consecrated with their lives.

We can never fully estimate the debt of gratitude we
owe the pioneer. Only the highest type of the unselfish
man could have faced the task. His work had the force of
the mythical wand of magic and transformed the once im-
penetrable forests and prairies of Iowa to fields teeming in
wealth. A word of consideration is, at the best, but mea-
ger recognition of service tendered the state when there
was a scarcity of learning but a broad field of conquest.
That service made possible the bright galaxy of Iowa

statesmen now at Washington. It made possible a Wilson,

a Shaw, a DoUiver, and an Allison.

Mr. Speaker, let the name of him who has passed away
be cherished by the members of this assembly; let the his-
tory of his life be preserved as the reward of one who nur-
tured society in its infancy with the sustaining and sooth-
ing influence of a guardian during the wild and tumultuous
period of pioneer days.

c^^^,^-7 x — ^,^3^-3^

0-

LEST WE FORGET

MEMORIAL DISCOURSE

IN HONOR OF

REV. CHARLES E. BROWN.

Delivered at Calvary Baptist Church,

DAVENPORT. IOWA.

October 6. 1901.

J. W. WEDDELL, D. D.

Pastor of the Church.

O ■ Q

REV. CHARLES E. BROWN.
Feb. 20, 1813— July 23, 1901

"Servant of God, well done!

Rest from th)^ loved employ;
The battle fought, the victory won,

Enter thy Master's joy.

The pains of death are past,

Labor and sorrow cease.
And life's long- warfare closed at last.

His soul is found in peace.

Soldier of Christ, well done!

Praise be thy new employ;
And while eternal ages run,

Rest in thy Saviour's joy."

LEST WE P0R(;ET.

''Beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee
forth. " Ueut. 6: 12.

"Lest we forget," "lest we forget." O how easily we
lose sight, in better times, of the days of privation and
toil! "Beware." Elsewhere Moses says, (8: 2) "And thou
shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led
thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee
and to prove thee."

It seems strange that memory should need exhortation
and command, or that the church of God should require
such oft reminder of the past, but, alas, we are prone to
forget, in prosperous days, the way by which we have been
led in the initial times of trial and testing. Families over-
look their old environments, sons and daughters happy in
the possession of rich estates and the luxuries of wealth,
forget the toil of father and mother or of grandfather and
grandmother at the forge, or the bench, or behind the
plow, bending to the laborious accumulation of the things
their children now enjoy.

In the same way, Moses, casting his eye forward, wise
statesman that he was, as well as prophet, foresaw the
time when the children of Israel, blest in the enjoyment
of things for which they had labored not, would forg-et the
hardships endured by the fathers in an early day and the
God that brought them out; therefore he urged them to
recall these things often and so keep in a humble and
grateful and reverent frame of mind toward the Giver of
every good and perfect gift.

We are not free from a like peril. Ours is a wonderful
heritage in this Iowa land. Prosperity beyond the com-

[10]

11

mon lot of man has crowned the efforts that have been put
forth, and we find ourselves in the midst of richly pro-
ductive conditions. These have come to us, under God's
kind hand, as a legacy from the past. "Other men labored
and ye are entered into their labors;" or the fruits of their
labors. "Great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not,
and houses full of all good things which thou filledst not,
and wells which thou diggedst not, and vine3'ardi and
olive trees which thou plantedst not."

Now, we rejoice in this blessed inheritance; but there is
danger here. Let us listen to the prudent admonition of
Moses, the man of God, spoken for people in just such
prosperous surroundings as belong to us today in this fair
state of ours: "When thou shalt have eaten and be full,
then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee
forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."
The lesson is plain. In days of affluence and ease remem-
ber the beginning days, when God's succoring hand was
especially manifest, lest we forget God and along with
God, the sources of all present, past and future good.

The recent sixtieth annual session of the Davenport Bap-
tist Association was sadly accentuated by the death of the
venerable and beloved father in the faith. Rev. Charles E.
Brown, one of the first preachers of the gospel in this
region. We are hereby led to a recall of the early incidents
and events that marked the beginning days of our Baptist
intetests in this state.

Our fathers in the faith were aggressive, and we began
Baptist history right along with the records of the organ-
ization of the territory. From earliest times this country
lying west of the Mississippi and along the forty-first and
forty-second parallels of latitude was recognized as a
choice spot for homes and farms and cities. A veritable
garden of the Lord, it seemed to the earliest comers, and
the tales they tell of its park-like appearance as their eyes
first rested upon it are interesting to hear and we catch a
bit of that first enthusiasm as we listen.

But the enthusiasm and vim of these first settlers, seek-
ing lands and houses and earthly things, was watched by

12

the hif^h purpose of tlie early preachers of i\\p f^ospel.
Witness the earnestness of soul and enerf;^y of hand and
foot, which such men as those devoted seekers of souls and
spiritual thing^s, the Iowa Rand of Andover students, ex-
emplified, as they left the snug- ensconcements of the east
and plung-ed into these new and untried but not unpromis-
ing surroundings. And so our Baptist fathers were here
ere the Redman had disappeared or the buffalo had ceased
to tramp across our fertile western hills and prairies.
Chapels arose with saw mills, and churches with factories,
and preceding- these, the land prospector and the scout of
civilization shared the rude but kindly hospitality of the
plains with the hardy and hopeful pioneer preacher and
missionary. In this, these noble men were but proving-
their calling- of the Ivord and carrying out that good spirit
of the first evangels of the gospel, who in answer to the
Macedonian cry that kept ever leading farther out and on,
were found "in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in
perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in
perils by the heathen (i. e. other countrymen), in perils in
the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in
perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness,
in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
in cold and nakedness." Of such good witness and testi-
mony Paul gives record in II Cor. 11: 26-27. The early
workers in the planting of churches and Sunday schools of
our faith and order in Iowa, had their share of these divine
credentials.

We are familiar with the fact that the first church to be
organized in Iowa was that at Danville, in 1834, under
Elder John Logan, a name since honored in the nation,
who came across from the Illinois interior to help form the
initial Baptist nucleus. That was down Burlingtonwards
at old Long Creek, as then called. In 1839 the Home Mis-
sion Society commissioned Calvin Greenleaf to come over
from Griggsville, Illinois, and organize the growing Bap-
tist band at Davenport into a church society. Rev. Titus
Gillett of Rock Island, completing the organization. About
the same time Hezekiah Johnson, the father of Dr. Frank-

13

lin Johnson, of the University of Chicago, who very appro-
priately, a few years since, preached the sixtieth anniver-
sary sermon at Davenport, and Ezra Fisher, who is known
as the first pastor, at Davenport, appear upon the records.
These two started from the latter place a little later on the
venturesome and heroic overland journey to Oregon. The
hopeful and self-sacrificing spirit of those days may be
judged from the further fact that when the first state or
rather territorial convention was held in 1842 at Iowa City,
M. W. Rudd, late of Washington, Iowa, walked seventy-five
miles to attend the meeting, helped along a little by hold-
ing on to the pommel of another brother's saddle.

Rev. S. H. Mitchell in his Historical Sketch of Iowa Bap-
tists, to which thesaurus of biographic material we are not
a little indebted, also instances the fact that at the time
when the first meeting of the Davenport association was
held at Davenport in 1842, a missionary and his wife trav-
eled fort}^ miles to attend the meeting, startling even the
primitive settlement of Davenport as he drove in "on a one
horse cart, constructed out of the hind wheels and axle of
an old lumber wagon, with a couple of old rails for thills
and a bundle of oats for a cushion "

It was at this meeting and that of the territorial conven-
tion a month or two previous that Rev, Charles E. Brown's
name first appears, though he had been preaching and vis-
iting for some months at Maquoketa and in the vicinity.
He took a prominent part in the organization of the
churches into associational form. At this time there were
seven within range. Rock Island being at first included.
It was stated by Brother Brown as a curious occasion for
the associational date that it was so fixed as to avoid the
sickly season— when is that? — and also to bring the meet-
ings at a time when fruits, vegetables and chickens would
be abundant. The association still follows in a way this
wholesome precedent.

The brother who came to this first association in the
modest make-shift of a conveyance, above referred to,
caring more, as was right, for the high requirements of the
occasion than for its conveniences or discomforts, was none

14

other, as his own "l*orsoiial Keniitiisceiices"' tell, than
Father Brown. He had lately settled as missionary pastor
at the Forks of Maquoketa, and felt that as a faithful stew-
ard he must not miss the meeting-. But how should he and
his wife attend, the onlj' vehicle within reach having- left
the settlement? Here is his own characteristic account of
the affair: "I secured the loan of the hind wheels and
axletree of a Hoosier lumber wagon, went to the fence and
got poles suitable for thills, and whit a board on wooden
pegs, we were soon ready for the forty mile trip.'' He
adds somewhat facetiously, in view of the wild sensations
his arrival made, "Although road carts were not as popular
and common then as now, we felt not the slightest embar-
rassment in driving up in front of the residence of Dr.
Witherwax." The meetings, he says, were held in a small
frame building on Front street, the Baptist church having
been planted here three years before, in Septeinber, 1839.
A brick meeting-house, however, was erected shortly after
the association, at the southeast corner of Fourth and
Brady streets.

The first meeting of the Davenport association, with all
its limitations, is said by Brother Brown, to have been one
of sweet and precious interest, and after singing the old-
time hymn,

''From Whence doth this Union Arisef'

"the brethren reluctantly parted to their homes and to
their work." These, he continues, "were not days of rail-
road coaches and cushioned carriages, but emigrant trails,
unbridged rivers, creeks and sloughs, old lumber wagons,
prairie schooners and old dilapidated saddles. But precious
enjo3'ment in this pioneer missionary life and work. How
sweet the memory still." Unbridged rivers, however, and
other hindrances did not deter such resolute spirits as
these. Once cut off by a washout in the prairie, when on
his way with Mrs. Brown to the meeting of the first terri-
torial convention at Iowa City, with a sharp cut of the
whip he leaped his horse, wagon and all, across the chasm,
gathering together his scattered effects as best he could,

15

on the other side of the gully; and at another time when
arrested by a swollen stream, on the way to Mt. Pleasant
(to the second territorial convention), he cut a grape-vine,
swam the stream and pulled over the wagon piece meal,
putting it together again on the farther bank. In this con-
nection we may mention the humble manner in which
Father Brown and his little family started out on the over-
land journey from Chicago. They had already been a
score of days coming by canal boat and steamer from the
interior of York state.

Here was the manner of the home-stretch, heroic and
handsome, in its way:

"On Monday we hired a man from Rockford who had
been in with a load, to take us and oar goods to Savanna,
on the Mississippi river. It was a lumber wagon. After
loading the boxes, the rocking chair, which we had brought
from our New York home, was fastened on top of one of
the boxes; a little chair from a furniture store was fastened
to the side of the rocker. My good wife cheerfully mounted
and took her seat in the rocking chair and the youngest
child in her lap and the other one by her side, remarking,
'Now this is first rate.' I took a seat on a box beside the
driver with our feet resting on the whiffletrees, ready for a
trip of two hundred miles to our future home in the state
of Iowa." So they made their advent on the scene of their
labors.

That was what it cost in endurance and hard labor, to
start things agoing religiously in these parts. Some idea
of the compensations of the pioneers may be learned from
the records of that first winter following the association,
spent by Mr. and Mrs. Brown, because of the severity of
the weather, in Davenport. "For weeks," he says, "in the
dead of winter we had revival meetings in the court house
at Rock Island, and by reason of the solid ice bridge on the
Mississippi river the Davenport people could attend and
take part in the meetings over the water, and did and
shared largely in the results of the good work. Over forty
were received by baptism into the two churches.'' Daven-
port alone received eighteen by baptism and fifteen by
letter.

16

Following this meeting-, lOlder Brown went up the river
and org-anized the churches at Camanche and Port Byron,
LeClaire having been in existence since the spring of 1839.

In those days Davenport Association bulked larger than
it does today. It covered all the territory of Northern
Iowa and reached over into Minnesota. Iowa City in its
further bounds, the then capital of the state, was North
America's fartherest western mission point. There was
no mission station between it and the coast. This was true
as late as 1845. There were indeed waste places in Iowa in
those da3's. and wide distances intervened. One worthy
brother, asked to visit a certain field, wrote, "I have no way
to go, but to walk or ride an ox.'' And yet the brethren of
the state board by dint of much sacrifice, managed to meet
and consult and devise in the interest of the churches. We
shall never know the hardships necessitated or the pains
and perils passed through. State Missionary Smith one
time in the early days started out on horseback to attend
the Boat's meeting at Dubuque. It was freezing cold and
growing colder. The first day he managed to get from
Iowa City to Anamosa, through the bitter wind. The next
morning, in spite of the protestations of his friends, frail
man that he was physically, he set out in the teeth of a
blizzard, across what was called Bowen's Prairie, reaching
at night-fall a little cabin at what is now Monticello, half
frozen, but still pressing on. The next day he was off
again for Cascade, stumbling along through the drifting
snow, and the next day, faint but pursuing, he reached
his coveted destination at Dubuque, and there met the
brethren and transacted the work of the lyord.

Ah, those were days of heroism, and we do well to honor
the faith and fortitude of such men in laying the founda-
tions of our work in the state. There was rich promise in
the soil and the stimulus of a contagious spirit of hope and
expectation in the air, but morally and religiously it was a
time that tried men's heaits. Those of us who were ac-
customed to hear Elder Brown on his oft repeated visits to
the scene of his former labors — one of the amenities of his
later days, for which he and we are indebted to his son,

17

Superintendent Brown, formerly General Manager of the
C. B. &Q., now Vice-President of the Ivake Shore Railroad,
who also, we may say, is the thoughtful publisher of this
booklet — those of us, who heard his terse and direct re-
minders of former days, will not soon forget one incident
he used to relate with zest. We can see him now as he
told it to us, half leaning on his cane, the old Rock Island
court house cane (cut from its timbers) which he thought
so much of.

"When we came," he used to say, "to the Forks of the
Maquoketa, wife and I, it was new ground, and we were far
from our old friends and among strangers. We found very
few at first that cared for the things of Christ, and a thick
mist had settled down upon everything, far and near, that
made the burden of our homesickness all the more heavy.
But out on my rounds, looking for the lost sheep of the
house of Israel, the wind came up, the sun suddenly broke
through the clouds and with it came a sense of God's help
and a new lifting of the heart. I saw the broad fields and
forests and the beautiful landscape, dotted with new homes,
as I had not seen it before, and I thanked God that he had
led me to cast my lot with this people to lead their
thoughts to heavenly things; and what was best of all, as
I rode up on my horse toward the log hut where we were
stopping, I saw my dear wife coming out to see me, with a
new light in her eye, and as she met me she said, 'Charles,
we have come to Iowa to do good, and will stay and trust
in the Lord'.' It was all different after that, and the work
went right on.''

It was a good work in those days of the forties and fifties.
There was a freedom and sprightliness in the atmosphere,
a cheery temper to the soul, and though money was not
plentiful, men gave cordially and promptly to all good
objects, and sometimes wuth a liberality that shames the
tame generosity of these more prosperous days.

Dr. Dexter P. Smith, to whom reference has already

been made, at one time missionary (from 1845 to 1851) of

the Home Mission Society at Iowa City, and afterwards

(from 1851 to 1859) in the employ of the American Sunday

I

18

School Union, as general missionary for Iowa, tells this
unique incident of those times. "February 17, 1856, I was
in Davenport. In the morning 1 preached in the Congrega-
tional church and received a collection of $60.25. In the
evening I addressed a union meeting at the Baptist church.
Cash collection, Sl()3.()0. Slips of paper were circulated
for subscriptions. Upon one of these small slips was the
following subscription: 'Martin Reisorf, one thousand dol-
lars (SI, 000), payable at Cook & Sargent's Bank, Davenport,
October 2, 1856.' As no one of the friends knew any one
in Davenport by the name of Martin Reisorf, the subscrip-
tion was valued at a discount of about one hundred per
cent. The next morning, with a friend, I inquired at
Cook cS: Sargent's Bank, but the officials knew of no such
person, which strengthened the belief that it was a mere
hoax, and that we should hear no more of it. But my own
mind was strongly impressed that God had touched the
heart of some one, and disposed him to do a noble thing
for the good cause. Just before the subscription matured,
upon the streets of Davenport, a stranger met the Rev. E.
M. Miles, pastor of the Baptist church, and inquired, 'Do
you recollect that a subscription of $1,000 for the Sunday
School work was given in response to Mr. Smiih^s recent
lecture and appeal?' 'I recollect it ver}^ well,' said Mr.
Miles, and the stranger continued: 'Can you convey the
funds to Mr. Smith without trouble?' Mr. Miles assured
him that it could be done without the least trouble. *Then,'
said the unknown stranger, 'I will pa)^ the amount, to you
instead of depositing it at the bank,' and he handed him a
purse of gold containing a thousand dollars in fifty pieces
of twenty dollars each. In the excitement of the moment
the stranger passed from sight, and from that day search
was made in vain for the generous donor."

The Iowa Board of State Missions in connection with the
State Convention was organized in 1855. Rev. Elihu Gunn,
the corresponding secretary, thus describes the field as it
was then. "The state of Iowa is at present filling up by
an immigration altogether unexampled in the history of
our country. It is computed by those best qualified to

19

judg-e that not less than two hundred thousand people have
found homes within the ample borders of our state within
the last two years." "The great thoroughfares of travel
along the line of the lakes uniting the Atlantic cities with
the Mississippi river, have been choked with emigrants
from all the eastern and middle states." "Kvery point of
transit across the Mississippi has been crowded with the
canvas-covered wagons of the hardy pioneers from other
western states." "Whole townships and counties have
been taken up and settled as by magic. Tracts of country,
scores and even hundreds of miles in extent, wliere but two
years ago the wild Indians disputed the possession, only
with the prairie wolf and the elk, are now dotted all over
with the rude cabins of the settlers."

Into such a scene of activit3^ our missionary fathers en-
tered with a vim and vigor for eternal interests commen-
surate with the zeal and zest for perishing things, that
was all about them. It is to be noted however, that Rev.
I M. Seay, the first missionary of the society, received but
$75.00 for his first year's work.

But despise not the day of small things. With the ap-
pointment of Rev. J. Y. Aitchison to the secretaryship in
the following 3'ear, practical methods were put into opera-
tion and $2,087 20 was raised and expended in direct mis-
sionary work throughout the state. It is with no compla-
cency that we compare this courageous and hopeful doing
with our statistics of the past year. We are giving at
present but S8,000 in round numbers and this with a state
population many times as large as in 1855, and a Baptist
constituency at the present time of 40,000 or more. This
ill proportion in contributions is not because of lessened
requirement; the need is greater than ever before. Multi-
tudes of growing- cities and communities are without Bap-
tist preaching, and many of them without evang-elical ser-
vices of any kind. Several evangelists might profitably be
employed in each of the four sections of the state, but the
money is lacking, and the fields wait in vain.

Neither is this lack of adequate funds because of a dearth
of resources in the state. We are a rich and prosperous

20

coniinonwealtli Statistics show that Iowa stands well to
the front, if not altog-ether foremost, in the earning^s and
saving-s of its populace, and the recent cry of drouth and
calamity has been proven wholly gratuitous and ungra-
cious, in view of the large returns that are ours in these
later months from the fertile fields and rich orchards, not
to speak of the thrifty markets of the state. The lines
have fallen to us in pleasant places, and we are affluent
and well-to-do as compared with our brethren of some
other states and territories. Instead of basely and falselj'
repining over fancied or feigned poverty, we should rejoice
in present blessing-s and respond this year to mission ap-
peal with a thank offering that should bear some due re-
lation to the kind gifts that have been bountifully show-
ered upon us from the skies. "Freel3' ye have received,
freely give." So may we respect the fathers and prove
that their spirit of courage and self-sacrifice has not per-
ished from the earth.

Looking back at the consecrated labors of these worthies,
what shall we say? It is piety that we lack, my brethren,
down-rig-ht piety, and devotion to the higher interests of
the soul. Our very prosperity has drawn our thoughts
away from spiritual things and made us, for the most part,
to turn our accumulations straight back into other chan-
nels of money-getting instead of investing, as once we
were prompt to do, in the enterprise of soul winning and
the interests of the kingdom. Let us beware lest God send
us judgment of genuine famine and pestilence in the land
to remind us of our dependence upon Him and to teach us
to be humble and thankful toward Him from whom all
blessings flow.

In conclusion, if we would keep in mind the stirring-
events of the past and honor the noble veterans of the
cross, who labored and wrought in the days of small
things —

We shall maintain the cause to which they gave so un-
grudging-ly in toil and sacrifice—

We shall endeavor in our day and generation with due

21

gifts and devotion to finish the work which they began
and passed on to us —

We shall seek, in a like humble and heroic spirit, in the
times that now are, to love and serve the Christ to whom
they gave in lavish unstintedness, life and loyalty. So
shall we remember the fathers that are gone and rightly
aid the generations yet to come.

Syracuse, New York,
February 16, 1894.
Dear Brother Charles:

I duly received your Book of Personal Reminiscences,
and I most cordially thank you for it. I read it mostly
through the first day I received it, and I am reading now
again. It interests me intensely I'll assure you and as I
read it I could not help thinking that although we are
brothers yet how little I knew of your life. Your Mission-
ary years in Iowa and their incidents as related by you, I
knew nothing of and of course the book is at once a novel
and a revelation to me.

And then, it is a most loving and affectionate tribute to
the memory of sister Frances, concerning whom, from my
earliest childhood to the day of her death, I heard only
words of special endearment from all the members of the
family.

She occupied a most conspicuous place in the tender re-
gard of Father and Mother and her memory to me is most
sweet and precious. I am glad to know that you are so
well and contented, and what a comfort it must be to you
to think that you have lived a life of Christian iisefullness
and that your sons are upright, worthy and noble men.
I wish I had such comforts now to brighten the shady side
of life. I wish I could see you and the family, but can't
just yet.

I am most lovingly your brother,

WlIvBUR.
THE END

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

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BRITTLE DO NOT
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Br-..
JUL 8 1958